The Crickets and Mole Crickets of Panama (Orthoptera: Gryllidae and Gryllotalpidae)

Abstract The crickets and mole crickets of Central America in general have not been studied in detail by taxonomists. Although several species are agricultural pests, our knowledge of them is limited, partly because they are secretive in nature and difficult to study in the field and partly because in many crickets morphological differences among related species are often hard to find. Walker (1957, 1964) demonstrated the widespread occurrence of ‘cryptic species’ in crickets (not to be confused with cryptic coloration, a form of mimicry in which an animal is able to blend in with its environmental background). These are species that are behaviourally distinct or have different seasonal life histories, but morphologically are similar or nearly identical and therefore difficult to recognise on the basis of morphological information alone. For example, until as recently as 19 57 it was thought that all large black field crickets in the United States belonged to a single morphologically variable species, Gryllus assimilis (F., 1775), based on studies by Lutz (1908) and Rehn and Hebard (1915). However, in the 1950s, with advancements in audiometric technology, cricket taxonomy was revitalized in studies involving life history information and species-specific calling signals (Fulton 19 52; Alexander 1957, 1962). Today, in eastern United States eight species of Gryllus are recognized on the basis of calling songs and seasonal life histories (Alexander and Bigelow 1960; Nickle and Walker 1974; Walker 1974). Similarly, in California the number of species has risen from one to nine (three of which also occur in eastern US) (Weissman et al. 1980).