Acheta domesticus, commonly called the house cricket, is a cricket most likely native to Southwestern Asia, but between 1950 and 2000 it became the standard feeder insect for the pet and research industries and spread worldwide. but can be kept as pets themselves, as this has been the case in China and Japan.
Video House cricket
Description
The house cricket is typically gray or brownish in color, growing to 16-21 millimetres (0.63-0.83 in) in length. Males and females look similar, but females will have an ovipositor emerging from the rear, around 12 millimetres (0.47 in) long. The ovipositor is brown-black, and is surrounded by two appendages. On males, the cerci are also more prominent.
Maps House cricket
Life cycle
House crickets take two to three months to complete their life cycle at 26 to 32 °C (79 to 90 °F). They have no special overwintering stage, but can survive cold weather in and around buildings, and in dumps where heat from fermentation may sustain them. Eggs are deposited in whatever damp substrate is available. Juveniles resemble the adults except for being smaller and wingless.
Diseases
The house cricket was essentially eliminated from the cricket-breeding industries of North America and Europe by the appearance of cricket paralysis virus which spread rapidly in Europe in 2002 and then in the United states in 2010. The virus is extremely lethal to this species of cricket and a few others, and left many hobbyists and researchers without adequate feeder insects. It has been replaced by the Jamaican field cricket, which is resistant to cricket paralysis virus and has many of the desirable features of the house cricket.
Human consumption
Though it is no longer commercially available, in parts of the world house crickets used to be farmed for human consumption and became more popular than many native cricket species due to what consumers claimed was their superior taste and texture. Dry-roasting was common and was the most nutritious method of preparing them, though they were often sold deep-fried as well. House crickets were also sometimes ground into a powder known as cricket flour.
Nutrition
Like all insects, crickets are a complete protein. They contain both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
References
External links
Media related to House cricket at Wikimedia Commons
- Sound recordings of Achetus domesticus at BioAcoustica
Source of article : Wikipedia
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