A two-spotted cricket resting on a leaf in Lombok
On a warm August morning in Lombok, I found this cricket perched on a green leaf among rocks and weeds, its long antennae sweeping out ahead of it like a pair of elegant probes. It was a large, solid insect, mostly dark with yellow patches, and it sat completely still, watching the world through the stillness that crickets do so well.
This is Gryllus bimaculatus, the southern field cricket or two-spotted cricket, a member of the family Gryllidae in the order Orthoptera. The species name bimaculatus means two-spotted, and it refers to the pair of pale spots at the base of the forewings, a handy field mark for telling this species apart from other dark crickets. It is one of the most widespread field crickets in the tropics, found across Africa, Asia and southern Europe.
This species is also one of the most studied crickets in the world. Because it is easy to rear, it has become a standard lab animal and a popular feeder insect for reptiles and amphibians, which is a far cry from its wild life of singing from burrows and feeding on plants and small insects. The males call at night with a loud, rhythmic chirp, and in the tropics that sound is part of the background music of warm evenings.
What struck me in Lombok was how calm this one was. I could get my lens close without it flinching, its antennae twitching occasionally as it tested the air. A cricket that trusts its camouflage enough to sit still for a portrait is a cricket having a good day.
