Songs of Insects

Confused Ground Cricket (Eunemobius confusus)

Song of a Confused Ground Cricket (scroll down for explanation and additional recordings!).

Certainly one of the most handsome of its group, the Confused Ground Cricket got its name from an early entomologist, Willis Blatchley (1859–1940), who initially “confused” it with the commonplace Carolina Ground Cricket. Found in damp leaf litter under hardwoods. The best method for capturing these tiny and fast crickets is to locate a singing male, scoop up a large armful of leaf litter, and toss it onto a light-colored sheet spread out nearby. Sift through this tangle, and the singer will no doubt be revealed, usually hiding under the last piece of material to be removed.

Song: Produces a regular series of two-parted trills lasting about a half second, ocassionally interrupted by brief trills or chirps. The frequency is about 6 kHz. Males often position themselves under leaves in order to amplify and direct their songs, which are very loud for such a small cricket.

Sonogram of a Confused Ground Cricket. © Wil Hershberger.