Dark Raspy Cricket
S5, profile, Wings Up
Ellura
Dark Raspy Cricket
S11, profile
 
                      
Dark Raspy Cricket (Gryllacrididae sp ES01)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Crickets, Grasshoppers & Katydids (Orthoptera)
Family: Leaf-rolling Cricket (Gryllacrididae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Dark Raspy Cricket (Gryllacrididae sp ES01)
This Photo:     S6, profile

Thank you Matthew Connors for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere

S2 = Female Early Instar
S3 = Male Adult
S4 = Male Adult
S6 = Male Adult
S7 = Female Final Instar
S11 = Female Adult
Males ~24-26mm, while the adult S11 was considerably larger at ~35 (excluding ovipositor). S3 Male antennae length was 45mm, Female ovi-positor length ~37mm.
S3 was the first adult we caught, and it was very sick. Could have been a spider bite, dehydration, etc. At first, we thought it was at it's end of life, but after giving it a drink and keeping it in a container all day it's vitality returned, so we released it.
A reddish brown face (black at some angles) with a white spot between the eyes and two oblong white patches above the antenna base.
Their front legs have two vertical rows of strong spines to catch & hold prey. We were surprised that it was aggressive! David Rentz suggests they are ferocious. We heard it "rasping" it's wings but a video couldn't pick up the sound, it's too quiet.
They are also called Leaf-rolling Crickets because they can produce webbing from their mouths to wrap a leaf up to hide in. Very similar to Leaf-curling spiders.
Even more surprising is that it's wing venation is different from one side to the other. We found this on another specimen, so wing venation isn't diagnostic here. They can also have asymmetric genetalia - possibly can even have male & female genitalia.
We can't be sure the nymphs are the same species, but since the features look to match up (spots on the face, etc) it's a reasonable assumption.
Notice, on the female nymphs, the ovi-positor curls up over the abdomen to keep out the way while growing; and gets longer with each instar.
Through other miss-id'ed images, we thought this might be Apotrechus sp, but Matthew said "Apotrechus are completely wingless and lack dark markings on the face"

Copyright © 2019-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 03-Oct-2019
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.