list of species keys home help

Subfamily Oecanthinae

tree crickets

link to keys Key to families and subfamilies of crickets.
link to keys Key to genera of field crickets and related species (Oecanthinae).

To view distribution maps and photographs and hear the songs of North American tree crickets, go to the list of species and access the species pages, which are under development.

For keys to species see Walker 1962 and Walker 1963.

For a beautifully illustrated, informative website devoted to Oecanthinae, go to http://www.oecanthinae.com/. This site, created by Nancy Collins (an energetic oecanthine enthusiast), is organized into more than 20 sections and has impressive still photos and videos.

References

Allard HA. 1930a. The chirping rates of the snowy tree cricket (Oecanthus niveus) as affected by external conditions. Can. Entomol. 62: 131-142. [=Oecanthus fultoni]

Allard HA. 1930b. Changing the chirp-rate of the snowy tree cricket Oecanthus niveus with air currents. Science 72: 347-349. [=Oecanthus fultoni]

Bell PD. 1979. Rearing the black horned tree cricket, Oecanthus nigricornis (Orthoptera Gryllidae). Can. Entomol. 111: 709-712.

Bell PD. 1980. Multimodal communication by the black-horned tree cricket, Oecanthus nigricornis (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). Can. J. Zool. 58: 1861-1868.

Blatchley WS. 1920. Orthoptera of northeastern America. Indianapolis, IN: Nature Publishing. 784 p. Oecanthinae (pp. 709-727). (The introductory pages to Blatchley's book are accessible on SINA's references page.)

Block BC. 1966. The relation of temperature to the chirp-rate of male snowy tree cricket, Oecanthus fultoni (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 59: 56-59.

Brown WD, Wideman J, Andrade MCB, Mason AC, Gwynne DT. 1996. Female choice for an indicator of male size in the song of the black-horned tree cricket, Oecanthus nigricornis (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Oecanthinae). Evolution 50: 2400-2411.

Brown WD. 1997. Courtship feeding in tree crickets increases insemination and female reproductive life span. Anim. Behav. 54: 1369-1382. [Oecanthus nigricornis]

Brown WD. 1997. Female remating and the intensity of female choice in black-horned tree crickets, Oecanthus nigricornis. Behav. Ecol. 8: 66-74.

Brown WD, Kuns MM. 2000. Female choice and the consistency of courtship feeding in black-horned tree crickets Oecanthus nigricornis Walker (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Oecanthinae). Ethology 106: 543-557.

Collins N. 2010-date. Oecanthinae - tree crickets. A website devoted to all aspects of the biology of oecanthines with an emphasis on Oecanthus and Neoxabea, by a dedicated naturalist and profusely illustrated with photographs and videos.

Fulton BB. 1915. The tree crickets of New York: life history and bionomics. N. Y. Agric. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bul.l 42: 3-47.

Fulton BB. 1925. Physiological variation in the snowy tree-cricket Oecanthus niveus De Geer. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 18: 363-383. [Oecanthus fultoni and O. rileyi]

Fulton BB. 1926a. Geographical variation in the nigricornis group of Oecanthus (Orthoptera). Iowa State Coll. J. Sci. 1: 43-62.

Fulton BB. 1926b. The tree crickets of Oregon. Oregon Agric College Exp Sta Bull No. 223. 20 p.

Funk DH. 1989. The mating of tree crickets. Sci. Am. 261: 50-59.

Gloyer WO, Fulton BB. 1916. Tree crickets as carriers of Leptosphaeia coniothyrium (Fckl.) Sacc. and other fungi. N Y Agric Exp Sta Tech Bull 50: 3-21.

Hancock JL. 1905. The habits of the striped meadow cricket (Oecanthus fasciatus Fitch). Am. Nat. 39: 1-11. [=Oecanthus nigricornis]

Hebard M. 1935. Orthoptera of the Upper Rio Grande Valley and the adjacent mountains in northern New Mexico. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 87: 45-82. [Oecanthus californicus pictipennis n. ssp.]

Jensen JP. 1909. Courting and mating of Oecanthus fasciatus Harris. Can. Entomol. 41: 25-27. [=Oecanthus nigricornis]

Johnstone DE. 1970. Species of Oecanthus (Orthoptera: Grylloidea: Oecanthinae) in Quebec. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Que. 15: 128-133.

Shull AF. 1907. The stidulation of the snowy tree-cricket (Oecanthus niveus). Can. Entomol. 39: 213-228. [=Oecanthus fultoni]

Sismondo E. 1979. Stridulation and tegminal resonance in the tree cricket Oecanthus nigricornis (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Oecanthinae). J. Comp. Physiol. 129: 269-279.

Titus ESG. 1903. A new Oecanthus from Illinois. Can. Entomol. 35: 260-261. [Oecanthus forbesi]

Walker TJ. 1962. The taxonomy and calling songs of United States tree crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Oecanthinae). I. The genus Neoxabea and the niveus and varicornis groups of the genus Oecanthus. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 55: 303-322.

Walker TJ. 1963. The taxonomy and calling songs of United States tree crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Oecanthinae). II. The nigricornis group of the genus Oecanthus.  Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 56: 772-789.

Walker TJ. 1967. Revision of Oecanthinae (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) of America south of the United States. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 60: 784-796.

Walker TJ. 1969. Acoustic synchrony: two mechanisms in the snowy tree cricket. Science 166: 891-894.

Walker TJ. 1978. Post-copulatory behavior of the two-spotted tree cricket, Neoxabea bipunctata. Fla. Entomol. 61: 39-40.

Walker TJ, Collins N. 2010. New World thermometer crickets: the Oecanthus riley species group and a new species from North America. Journal of Orthopera Research 19: 371-376. Online html version. Supporting Material: pdf; video.

Walker TJ, Gurney 1967. The metanotal gland as a taxonomic character in New World Oecanthus (Orthoptera, Gryllidae). Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 69: 157-161.

 

Walker TJ, Rentz DC. 1967. Host and calling song of dwarf Oecanthus quadripunctatus (Orthoptera, Gryllidae). Pan-Pacific Entomol. 43: 326-327.

Williams M. 1945. The directional sound waves of Oecanthus nigricornis argentinus or A violinist listens to an insect. Entomol. News 56: 1-4. [=Oecanthus argentinus]