Bug FAQWestern Trilling Cricket
Gryllus integer · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Gryllidae
Also called: mud crack field cricket, western stutter-trilling cricket
The western trilling cricket is a medium-large field cricket measuring about 17 to 24 mm. It has a jet-black head and pronotum with light-brown wing covers. It lives in ground cracks or burrows near roads, buildings and other disturbed sites in the western United States.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The head and pronotum are jet black, while the forewings (tegmina) are light brown.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults range from about 17.1 mm to 24.0 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It is commonly used as food for insect-eating animals such as spiders, reptiles, rodents, bats and birds.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Females mate with multiple males, store sperm in a spermatheca, and can use stored sperm from earlier matings when they re-mate. Field crickets, including this species, have the biological traits that allow sperm competition.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 15 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Arizona, New Mexico, California, Texas, Utah, Massachusetts, Idaho, Illinois.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What does this cricket look like?
It has a jet-black head and pronotum with light-brown forewings.
Source: Wikipedia
Where might I find a western trilling cricket?
Look for them in ground cracks or burrows near roads, buildings and other disturbed sites in the western United States.
Source: Wikipedia
What animals eat this cricket?
Spiders, reptiles, rodents, bats and birds commonly feed on it.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Gryllidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gryllus_integer
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-26 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-26.