With their big heads and beady black eyes, Jerusalem crickets aren't winning any beauty contests. But that doesn't stop them from finding mates. They use their bulbous bellies to serenade each other with some furious drumming.

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Potato Bug. Child of the Earth. Old BaldHeaded Man. Skull Insects. Devil’s Baby. Spawn of Satan. There’s a fairly long list of imaginative nicknames that refer to Jerusalem crickets, those sixlegged insects with eerily humanlike faces and prominent striped abdomens. And they can get quite large, too: Some measure over 3 inches long and weigh more than a mouse, so they can be quite unnerving if you see them crawling around in your backyard in summertime.

One individual who finds them compelling, and not creepy, has been studying Jerusalem crickets for over 40 years: David Weissman, a research associate in entomology affiliated with the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. He’s now considered the world’s foremost expert, since no one else has been as captivated or singlemindedly devoted to learning more about them.

While much of their general behavior is still not widely understood, Jerusalem crickets typically live solitary lives underground. They’ll emerge at night to scavenge for roots, tubers and smaller insects for their meals. And it’s also when they come out to serenade potential partners with a musical ritual: To attract a mate, adult crickets use their abdomens to drum the ground and generate lowfrequency sound waves.

If a male begins drumming and a female senses the vibrations, she’ll respond with a longer drumming sequence so that he’ll have enough time to track her down. The drumming can vary between one beat every other second up to 40 beats per second.

+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:
https://www.kqed.org/science/1932923/...

+ For more information:

JERUSALEM! CRICKET? (Orthoptera: Stenopelmatidae: Stenopelmatus); Origins of a Common Name https://goo.gl/Y49GAK

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+ Shoutout!

Congratulations to Piss Dog, Trent Geer, Mario Stankovski, Jelani Shillingford,
and Chaddydaddy who were the first to correctly 3 the species of Jerusalem Cricket relatives of the Stenopelmatoidea superfamily in our episode, over at the Deep Look Community Tab:

   / @kqeddeeplook  

(hat tip to Antonio Garcia, who shared 3 full species names)


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Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation and the members of KQED. #deeplook #jerusalemcrickets #wildlife