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Gryllodes sigillatus

Tropical House Cricket

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Mature female	111KB
Image:	Immature male (wing not fully developed)	121KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Tropical House Cricket, Banded Cricket, Decorated Cricket, Indian House Cricket, Squeaky-wheel Cricket

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE se.Asia; EXOTIC EXOTIC circumtropical, incl. Cooks - Marquesas, Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands, incl. dwellings

KEY FEATURES: Cricket to 18mmBL. Body mottled brown, legs pale grey. Female wingless; adult male wingcovers cover ~50% of abdomen and used to make song. Male call often of brief chirps separated by longer intervals of silence.. NOTE: Common in houses under objects.

Enlarged Image of 'Gryllodes sigillatus'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
				+++

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			+++

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Gryllodes sigillatus (Walker, 1869)
SYNONYMS: Gryllodes supplicans

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ARTHROPODA; ATELOCERATA; HEXAPODA; INSECTA; PTERYGOTA; Orthoptera; GRYLLIDAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: Cricket to 18mmBL, with long antennae. COLOUR mottled light brown to dark brown with pale grey legs and cerci. Female larger than male, and without wings; adult male with short wingcovers covering ~50% abdomen, and used to make song. Male call variable, often brief chirps separated by longer intervals of silence (rather like a bicycle wheel scrapping in one part only).

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: specimen+photo, PK#61, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Gryllodes sigillatus, to BPBM.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB04a, zM04a, zD04a

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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