Gryllus brevicaudus Weissman, Rentz, and Alexander 1980
map
holotype male
ITS2 gene tree
12 s of calling song, male from Jasper Ridge, San Mateo County, Calif., 27.0°C. Dominant frequency 5.1 kHz. Recording by D. B. Weissman (S92-44, R92-9); used by permission.
10 s of calling, from San Benito County, California, 24.5°C. Dominant frequency 5.5 kHz. Recording by D.B. Weissman (S03-8, R03-8); used by permission.
This spectrogram is a 2 s excerpt of the 10 s audio file accessible immediately above. The excerpt begins at 0 s.
Song:
Weissman et al. (2019) described the song as having 3 to 6 pulses per chirp and 60-216 chirps per minute. Pulse rate usually 20-30.
Identification:
A key to the adult males of native US Gryllus is in Weissman and Gray (2019).
Open grasslands. Gryllus brevicaudus can be found under rocks during the rainy season (winter and early spring), and in deep soil cracks during the dry season (late spring to autumn).
Life cycle:
One generation per year, no egg diapause.
Season:
Gryllus brevicaudus is the earliest singing Gryllus species in central California, starting in mid–winter. Their season ends in summer, but individuals may be heard up to late August.
Remarks:
Though rarely collected, G. brevicaudus is one of the few species of Gryllus whose specimens from museum collections can be identified morphologically.
Name derivation:
Latin: "brevi" = "short", "cauda" = "tail"; named so because G. brevicaudus has the shortest ovipositor of the known Gryllus.
