Indies bush cricket
Orocharis gryllodes (Pallas 1772)

map	male	female
head

	20 s of calling song [1.73MB]; male from Levy Co., Fla.: Cedar Key; 26.5°C. (WTL682-4a)
	5 s of calling song [259KB]; same as above but truncated and down-sampled.

Sound spectrogram of 2 s of calling at 26.5°C from WTL682-4a). Dominant frequency is 5.7 kHz.
Click on first half of spectrogram to hear graphed song.
Click on last half of spectrogram to see an expansion of the last two chirps.

Identification:  Length 17-22 mm. Ocellar diameter greater than distance between lateral and medial ocellus; no conical projections at ocelli; some bristles longer than 0.1 mm on head behind ocelli. Stridulatory file has 23–31 teeth.

Habitat:  Mangroves and subtropical hammocks.

Season:  Year-round.

Song at 25°C:  Buzzy chirps usually produced in groups of 2 or 3 with groups at intervals of 2–3 sec. Chirps have 10–14 pulses at 216 p/s, the fastest wingstroke rate known for crickets.

Similar species:  All other U.S. Orocharis species have ocellar diameters less than the distance between the lateral and median ocellus and their stridulatory files have more than 60 teeth.

Remarks:  This species is abundant and widespread in the West Indies and probably spread from there to south Florida. O. diplastes and O. nigricornis may also have had a West Indian origin—but have yet to be found in the West Indies.

More information:  subfamily Eneopterinae, genus Orocharis