musical bush cricket

Hapithus melodius Walker 1977


map	male	male	female

29 s of calling song; male from Dade Co., Fla.: EVNP; 24.4°C. Dominant frequency increases from 4.4 to 4.9 kHz as pulse rate increases. (WTL672-4a)

This spectrogram is a 12 s excerpt of the 29 s audio file accessible above. Click on spectrogram to expand last 12 s of the spectrographic image.

19 s of courtship song; male from Martin Co., Fla.; 26.2°C. Dominant frequency 5.3 kHz. (WTL672-8c)

This spectrogram is a 12 s excerpt of the 19 s audio file accessible above.

timing of pulses in Hapithus melodius calling song

Event recorder displays of the timing of pulses in the calling song at 24.4°C (from WTL672-4a). Each vertical mark or open rectangle represents one pulse. A) 75 s of calling. B) The 2nd sequence in A. C) The terminal 40 pulses of the 2nd sequence. D) The terminal 9 pulses of the 2nd sequence. (Fig. 4, Walker 1977.)

Song at 25°C:	A musical, irregular tink, tink, tink that speeds up and becomes a trill of ca. 14 p/s. Each such sequence lasts 8-20 sec., with the carrier frequency gradually increasing by several hundred Hertz. Courtship singing resembles calling except that the tinks are more irregular and no trills are produced.
Identification:	Length 15–19 mm. Forewings covering less than two-thirds of abdomen; length of forewings generally more than 2.3 (males) or 2.2 (females) times medial length of pronotum. Stridulatory file with more than 70 teeth, 1.5 to 1.8 mm long.
Similar species:	Short-winged bush cricket—wings shorter; fewer than 70 teeth in stridulatory file; no calling song.
Habitat:	On grass and shrubby undergrowth, especially in pinewoods and in sawgrass marshes.
Season:	June–Oct.
Remarks:	This and the preceding species are closely related. They have not been found together, but specimens of the two collected 50 miles apart maintain their distinctive features.
More information:	Subfamily Eneopterinae, genus Hapithus.
References:	Walker 1977.
Nomenclature:	OSF (Orthoptera Species File Online).