The raspy cricket with a red abdomen
Medog, Tibet, 8 August 2024. Some finds you notice by sound, some by shape. This one I noticed by name first: Larnaca rubiabdomina, the red-abdomen raspy cricket, and there it was, living up to the billing.
This is Larnaca rubiabdomina, a member of the family Gryllacrididae (order Orthoptera), the raspy crickets or leaf-rolling crickets. The name is straightforward Latin: rubi for red, abdomina for abdomen. The family sits somewhere between crickets and katydids, and its members are mostly nocturnal, with very long antennae and a habit of staying well hidden by day.
What makes Gryllacrididae remarkable is silk. Many species produce silk from their mouthparts and use it to stitch leaves together into a daytime retreat, a trick you would expect from a caterpillar rather than a cricket. The family gets its raspy name from the harsh, scraping sound the males make, quite different from the musical chirping of true crickets. They are omnivores, taking plant material and small animals alike, and a cornered one can deliver a sharp nip with its strong jaws, so it is best admired from a respectful distance.
Catching a glimpse of one at night, antennae sweeping the air, is one of the small pleasures of a Medog evening. It is also a reminder that the cricket part of its name covers a far stranger family than most people ever see. At night the long antennae are never still, sweeping the darkness like a pair of walking sticks, reading the world long before the eyes could.
