A Hump-nosed Cricket, Loxoblemmus pallens (Serville)

This is an example of a large genus of Asian and African crickets found living on the ground in leaf litter. Loxoblemmus crickets can be found in rainforests or in mixed woodland. They are often common and heard singing after dark. In their book on the Australian Crickets, Otte and Alexander (1983) list two species in the genus from Australia.

This species, L. pallens (Serville), is found only in Australia where it has a patchy distribution along the cost of Queensland north of Bundaberg. At times it is relatively common. Both sexes are short-winged and cannot fly. We found a population in some native woodland north of Mareeba, Queensland. Males have a pronounced hump between the eyes.

Calling Song of the Hump-nosed Cricket, Loxoblemmus pallens.

Oscillogram of the calling song of the hump-nosed cricket. The song is a continuous chirp broken at rather regular intervals.

Reference

Otte, D., Alexander, R. D. 1983. The Australian Crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Monograph 22. Pp. 1-477.