''Brachytrupes membranaceus'', the tobacco cricket, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Gryllidae. It is a pest of crops including young

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

plants. There are four subspecies, all of which are native to Africa. Brachytrupes membranaceus nymph

Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognised : *''B. m. colosseus'' Saussure, 1899 –

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

*''B. m. hoggarensis'' Chopard, 1941 –

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

''B. m. mauritanicus'' Chopard, 1952 –

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

*''B. m. membranaceus'' (Drury, 1770) –

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and other countries in East Africa

Description

The adult ''B. membranaceus'' has a plump brown body, a broad blunt head, long antennae and powerful legs. It has a head-and-body length of .

Biology

''Brachytrupes membranaceus'' is

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

. It digs a burrow that may be deep, with chambers in which it stores food. The burrow is dug by the

mandibles In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...

, and the fore-legs are used to move loose soil and push it out of the entrance. An adult cricket may form a mound up to in height beside the burrow entrance. The crickets live almost entirely underground, each in its own burrow. Mating takes place in the male's burrow and the female may remain there till the eggs are laid, in a walled-off side tunnel. In

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, breeding takes place in February and March. The female lays around two hundred eggs which hatch about a month later. The

nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are typ ...

crawl out of the burrow and disperse, each digging a burrow of its own. At first the nymphs grow rapidly but growth slows during the dry season from June to October. When succulent young plant material becomes available in November, growth rates speed up, with adults emerging from December onwards. There is just one generation each year. The diet is grasses, succulent parts of plants and the suckers of trees such as ''

Brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezian ...

'' and ''

Isoberlinia ''Isoberlinia'' is a genus in the family Fabaceae of five species of tree native to the hotter parts of tropical Africa. They are an important component of miombo woodlands. The leaves have three or four pairs of large leaflets and stout seed po ...

''. In cultivated areas, foodstuffs may include

seedling A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embry ...

s, transplanted plants,

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

and field beans. Vegetable matter is carried underground and packed into storage chambers. It does not ferment, so it is probable that it is cut and allowed to wilt before being carried underground. Overly dry material may be allowed to soften with

dew Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. As the exposed surface cools by radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate greater than that at wh ...

before storage.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10434536 Gryllinae Insects described in 1770 Orthoptera of Africa Taxa named by Dru Drury