Fishes - Home

loud sound bv rapid vibrations of wings. Described species about 900,
about 150 in the Indian region, a few found in Maharashtra.
G. africana (Mole cricket). Plate 1, Fig. 9. Light brown, powerful
digging forelegs, head and thorax hard, antennae short, hind wing
extending beyond short tegmina and into thin processes. Cerci
promi¬nent, Body soft. L. 30-40 mm. Breeds in burrows under trees. Feed
on young plants and roots. Mother takes care of the eggs and young.
Attracted to light. B, portentosus (Brown cricket). Blackish brown, short
tegmina. Nymphs burrow deep in soil, throwing earth above ground, live
there. Life cycle 8-12 months. Feed on young seedlings and low shoots of
vegetation at night, hide by day. Extremely noisy. L. 50-55 mm.
Destructive to Casuarina plantations. Used as food by some tribes in N.
India (Beeson 1941). G. humeralis. Smallish grey cricket, attacking
Casuarina, Eucalyptus, Sissoo etc. L. bimaculatus. Greyish black, hiding
under stones, logs etc. Adult about 20-30 mm. Two yellowish spots below
thorax, tarsi spiny. Feeds on decaying vegitauon, insects. Cuts leguminous
crops at ground level.
G. domesticus (Black headed cricket). Greyish, head black, long
Insects antennae. Breeds in dry, barren soil. Hide by day, feed in clusters at
night. Do not fly though winged, L. 25-30 mm. Omnivorous Gryllodes
spp. Common house crickets. Blackish, feed on greasy and tatty matter or
paper, cloth, leather etc. Also attacks nursery- seedling. L 20 mm. O.
indicus. Delicate, greenish white, flat, wings almost transparent, antennae
thin, long hind legs spiny. Often found on tobacco but not doing harm.
Probably predaceous on some other small insects. Also noted on paddy
and other dense vegetation.
See Fletcher T.B. (1920.) Rep. Pro. Ento Meet. Pusa. Annotated list
of Crop pests.
Uvarov B. P. (1928) Locusts and grass hoppers. Imp. Bur Ent, Lond.
FAUNA 374