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Sticker of Common crevice-cricket
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Common crevice-cricket

Gryllomorpha dalmatina
Eats: Leftovers and dead thingsGrasshoppers and cricketsHouses and farms6 legs

The common crevice-cricket is a pale brown cricket with dark brown markings and no wings at all. It has very long feelers and long legs. It likes dark, damp places such as caves, cellars and basements.

Lives in
Southern Europe, the Near East and North Africa, in cellars, caves and under stones
Length
1.5 to 2 cm (0.59 to 0.79 in)
Top speed
about 3 km/h (1.9 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is shy, hides from the light and does not hurt people.
What does it eat?
It eats bits of dead plant and animal matter that it finds in dark corners.
For real!Photo of Common crevice-cricket
Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Common crevice-cricket about 2 cm long (0.79 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 3 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1.2 secondsmoves 42 times its own body length every second

How big is Common crevice-cricket compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is the biggest member of its group of crickets, growing up to 2 centimetres long.

2

It does not like light and stays in dark places.

3

Outdoors you see it from April to early autumn, but inside houses it is busy all year round.

4

The female has a long, thin egg-laying tube at her back end, up to 17 millimetres long.

5

Outside, it hides under stones and bark.

you asked

Most asked questions about Common crevice-cricket

?Is the common crevice-cricket dangerous?

No. It is a shy cricket that hides in dark places and eats scraps.

?Where does the common crevice-cricket live?

In southern Europe, the Near East and North Africa, often in cellars, caves and basements.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Gryllomorpha dalmatina
Named by
Ocskay, 1832
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Gryllidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Gryllidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, Africa
Also known as
Wingless house-cricket

Where the facts come from

  1. Gryllomorpha dalmatina (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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