Difference Between Cricket And Grasshopper
Cricket, any of a large group of insects known mostly for their chirping noises. Crickets are found in nearly all parts of the world where plants grow. At times they become so abundant that they cause serious damage to crops.
Crickets are classified in the families Gryllidae and Gryllotalpidae, both in the order Orthoptera, class Insecta. Gryllidae contains the tree crickets, ant-loving crickets, and true crickets, this last group being made up of both the field and house crickets. Gryllotalpidae comprises the mole crickets.
Perhaps the most common species of cricket in North and South America is the field cricket (Acheta assimilis), which is found in dwellings, particularly in rural areas, as well as in fields. The field cricket is dark brown to black. It has long slender antennae; four wings that lie flat, one over the other, on top of the body; and a pair of prominent appendages (cerci) at the end of the abdomen.
Grasshopper, any of a large family of long slender insects with large powerful hind legs used for jumping. Grasshoppers are divided into two families: the Acrididae (short-horned grasshoppers) and the Tettigoniidae (long-horned grasshoppers, better known as katydids). Both belong to the order Orthoptera, in the class Insecta. The name locust is incorrectly applied to grasshoppers that gather in swarms, especially if they migrate, and should refer only to those species that have both a solitary and a migratory phase.
Grasshoppers are found in tropical and temperate regions throughout the world, being most abundant in grasslands of temperate areas. There are about 5,000 different species, of which about 100 are found in North America.
Since a single grasshopper can ingest 0.45 grains (30 mg) of food a day, a population of approximately 50 or more grasshoppers per square yard (0.8 sq meter)—a density often reached in outbreaks—can eat as much pasture foliage as a cow consumes per acre (0.405 ha). The damage caused by grasshoppers extends far beyond the actual amount of foliage they eat because they attack plants at vulnerable points, causing the stems to break off.
In addition to eating pasture foliage, grasshoppers feed on heads of grain, flax bolls, cotton bolls, and the silk of corn ears. They also consume the flowers of alfalfa and sweet clover. By destroying large numbers of plants and exposing bare patches of ground, grasshoppers make soil susceptible to erosion. The control of grasshoppers usually includes the use of poison baits and insecticide dusts and sprays.