Until the mid-1950s, native field crickets in eastern North America were all assigned to a single species, Acheta assimilis. Although regional variation in calling song and life history were noted,[3][4] no morphological characters could be found to reliably distinguish these variants.[5] Building upon the pioneering work of Fulton,[4] Alexander [5] used male calling song, life history and crosses between putative species to revise the taxonomy of gryllines in the eastern United States, and recognized five species, although at the time they were still classified in the genus Acheta.
Description
Species in this genus often look similar to species from other genera. They can often only be distinguished by the male genitalia. The epithallus typically consists of three lobes, the middle one being longer and more slender than the rest, in American and European species. African species, however, show more variability, making it more difficult to assign species to a genus with the same degree of certainty as there is more overlap with closely related genera.[6]
This female field cricket was seen in Ohio in September.
^Rehn, J.A.G., and Hebard, M. (1915). The genus Gryllus (Orthoptera) as found in America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 67:292-322.
^ abFulton, B. B. 1952. Speciation in the field cricket. Evolution 6, 283-295.
^ abAlexander, R.D. (1957). The taxonomy of the field crickets of the eastern United States (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Acheta). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 50:584-602.
