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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids (Orthoptera) » Long-horned Orthoptera (Ensifera) » Crickets (Gryllidea) » True Crickets (Gryllidae) » Tree Crickets (Oecanthinae) » Common Tree Crickets (Oecanthus) » Rileyi Group (Oecanthus Rileyi Group) » Snowy Tree Cricket (Oecanthus fultoni)
Photo#989731
Loud song at night - Oecanthus fultoni - male
Copyright © 2014 jdiffee555

Loud song at night - Oecanthus fultoni - Male
Denver, Denver County, Colorado, USA
September 1, 2014
Size: 1 inch
I hear these in my neighborhood, making very loud noises at night. The sounds almost blend in with the crickets, but sound a little more like higher-pitched frogs (like you would hear near water). I tracked the sound down to see one of these on the underside of a bush-leaf with its wings opened and vibrating loudly, to my amazement. The volume of the sound is comparable to that of a cricket.

Images of this individual: tag all
Loud song at night - Oecanthus fultoni - male Loud song at night - Oecanthus fultoni - male
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Contributed by jdiffee555 on 2 September, 2014 - 5:57pm
Last updated 6 September, 2014 - 8:48am

I believe this is a male Snowy tree cricket
Although it appears slightly tan (there are some species of wide-winged males in the varicornis group that have brown forms), your excellent description of the song rules them out. This male may be old, and their color fades with age.

Nice photo.

I should also mention that Snowy tree cricket and Riley's tree cricket are difficult to tell apart based on photos without seeing the antennal markings. However, SINA does not show Riley's as occurring in Colorado. That doesn't mean they haven't strayed over there. Ranges are expanding for many species.

If you find another tree cricket with these wide wings, try to get a photo of the markings on the antennae.



If you handle them, they are soft bodied but quite hardy.

BTW, you'll notice that on warm nights they sing fast, and on cool nights it's much slower. There is actually a formula for calculating the temperature based on the number of chirps! http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/585a.htm
… Wisconsin Oecanthinancy, 6 September, 2014 - 8:48am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… metrioptera, 4 September, 2014 - 7:37pm login or register to post comments

Looks like some sort of...
Common Tree Cricket - Genus Oecanthus?
… Bill Myers, 2 September, 2014 - 6:20pm login or register to post comments

 
And so it is...
Thank you so much, Bill - that's exactly what it is. I did everything BUT call it a cricket in my post.

Thanks to you I can sleep at night (to the soothing sounds of the "tree crickets").
… jdiffee555, 2 September, 2014 - 6:25pm login or register to post comments

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