Gryllus vernalis Blatchley, 1964

Weissman, David B. & Gray, David A., 2019, Crickets of the genus Gryllus in the United States (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Gryllinae), Zootaxa 4705 (1), pp. 1-277 : 119-126

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4705.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F534C43A-AB09-4CB3-9B08-FD5BDFD90298
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treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Gryllus vernalis Blatchley
status

Treatment

Gryllus vernalis Blatchley

Northern Wood Cricket

Figs 57 View FIGURE 57 , 113–122 View FIGURE 113 View FIGURE 114 View FIGURE 115 View FIGURE 116 View FIGURE 117 View FIGURE 118 View FIGURE 119 View FIGURE 120 View FIGURE 121 View FIGURE 122 , Table 1 View TABLE 1

1903 Gryllus americanus Blatchley. Blatchley 1903, p. 433 .

1920 Gryllus assimilis vernalis Blatchley , nomen novum since G. americanus was preoccupied. Blatchley 1920, p. 704.

1930 Gryllus assimilis vernalis Blatchley. Blatchley 1930, p. 72 . Lectotype female ( Fig. 116 View FIGURE 116 , photos courtesy of Jennifer Zaspel and Gareth Powell, Purdue University Entomological Collection, where the types are deposited) chosen by Blatchley: Red label “Type”. Crawford Co., Ind. W.S.B. 5-11-(18)99. Allolectotype male ( Fig. 117 View FIGURE 117 ) with the following data: White label “type” Crawford Co. Ind. W.S.B. 6/28/ (19)02. Blatchley chose a female as the lectotype because he thought the length of the ovipositor and shape and position of the female tegmina at rest [somewhat separated] were both good characters for separating G. vernalis from the sympatric G. pennsylvanicus (actually = G. veletis ) ( Blatchley 1903, p. 434; repeated verbatim in Blatchley 1920, p. 706).

1957 Acheta vernalis (Blatchley) . Alexander (1957).

1964 Gryllus vernalis Blatchley. Randell (1964) .

Distribution. Known from several central and southern US states (see maps in Capinera et al. 2004, Walker 2019), both east and west of the Mississippi River.

Recognition characters and song. Smallest species of Gryllus , on average, in US, although some male North Dakota G. veletis (from Mirror Pool, Richland Co.) are smaller than the smallest G. vernalis males. A morphologically distinctive cricket based on a combination of characters: always with short hind wings, head usually narrower than pronotum ( Fig. 118 View FIGURE 118 ), song ( Fig. 119 View FIGURE 119 , R03-104) usually 3 (rarely 4) p/c, 135–250 c/m, PR 24-31.

Differs from sympatric Missouri (S03-56) and Indiana (S03-62) sister species G. fultoni in being smaller ( Fig. 120 View FIGURE 120 ), tegmina always black vs. brown and black with tegminal bar in G. fultoni , no overlap in file teeth and teeth/mm ( Table 1 View TABLE 1 , p. 18), tegmen length, PR slower (can hear difference in field when both species singing at same temperature), and yellow cerci rare (usually the norm in live G. fultoni ).

Differs from sympatric Iowa G. veletis (S03-55) in G. vernalis having head frequently narrower than pronotum, proportionately longer cerci, based on body length, smaller size, fewer p/c, and slower PR. Differs from more western, allopatric G. veintinueve in no overlap in teeth/mm ( Table 1 View TABLE 1 , p. 18), length of cerci, male tegminal length, and multilocus DNA ( Fig. 6 View FIGURE 6 , p. 28 View FIGURE 28 ; Gray et al. 2019). G. veintinueve is only found west of 94° longitude. Differs from allopatric sister species G. cayensis because the latter is taciturn and restricted to southern Florida.

Derivation of name. “ vernalis” means “of springtime,” in reference to its appearance as the first singing Gryllus species in Indiana ( Blatchley 1903, 1920).

Geographic range. ( Fig. 121 View FIGURE 121 ). Some literature citations (e.g. Jang & Gerhardt 2006a, 2006b, for eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas) probably refer to morphologically similar G. veintinueve , a species discussed elsewhere (p. 70) in this paper. Besides our localities (see below), also known from Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky ( Walker 2019; Jang & Gerhardt 2006a, 2006b).

Habitat. An obligate woodland, and edge of woodland, species. Males can frequently be heard singing from undergrowth abutting woodlands but can be difficult to collect even when using oatmeal trails.

Life cycle and seasonal occurrence. No egg diapause. One generation/year. Adults from early May ( Blatchley, 1903) until mid-summer, and overwinter as late instars.

Variation. Head size: Of the specimens from Indiana near the type locality, 0 of 3 males and 3 of 4 females had the head narrower than the pronotum. From Missouri 5 of 8 males and both females had the head narrower. From Tennessee, 5 of 7 males and all 7 females had the head narrower. No specimens were captured in Iowa or Ohio, although they were heard singing from dense vegetation. Cerci color: Rare (1 of 31) individuals with yellow cerci when alive. This color darkens upon death. Pulses/chirp: Usually 3 p/c but 1 (S03-56) of 17 recorded males with a rare chirp with 4 pulses. Are female tegmina widely separated? Usually, but not always in G. vernalis , and this “diagnostic” condition ( Blatchley 1903) is also seen in some G. fultoni females.

Specimens examined. Arkansas: Polk Co., Wilhelmina State Park , 17-vi-1995, T.J. Walker, 1♂ . Illinois: Johnson Co., Ferne Clyffe State Park 1.4 m S Goreville, 170m, 8-vii-2014 (S14-35), 2♂ , A. & D. Wood. Indiana: Crawford Co., Hwy 62 11.6 m W of Hwy 135. 750’, 4-vi-2003 (S03-62) 3♂ 4♀ . Missouri: Jefferson Co., Edmond A. Babler State Park , 750’, 2-vi-2003 (S03-56) 8♂ 2♀ . Tennessee: Coffe Co., Old Stone Fort State Park , 13-v-2003 (S03-57) 7♂ 7♀ , Y. Jang.

Song only records. Iowa: Fremont Co., Waubonsie State Park , 1250’ 1-vi-2003 (S03-55) . Ohio: Hocking Co., Hwy 33 9 m S Lanchester , 750’ 5-vi-2003 (S03-64).

DNA. We found two 16S clades ( Figs 121 View FIGURE 121 , 122 View FIGURE 122 ). Clade 1 included 3 individuals (G31, G33, G440) from near the type locality in Indiana (S03-62). Clade 2 included 4 individuals (G26, G27, G1739, G1740) from Missouri (S03-56); 4 individuals (G28, G1700, G1701, G1738) from Tennessee (S03-57); and 2 individuals (G2754, G2755) from Illinois (S14-35). ITS2 mapping of two Clade 1 individuals (G31 and G33) and two Clade 2 individuals (G27 and G1739) all mapped together ( Fig. 115 View FIGURE 115 , p. 121). Multilocus G31 (Clade 1, Indiana, S03-62) and G2754 (Clade 2, Illinois, S14-35) have these two 16S clades map together and also identifies G. fultoni and G. cayensis as sister species (Gray et al. 2019).

Discussion. First called the northern wood cricket by Alexander (1957) despite Blatchley’s name of “vernalis” meaning “of springtime.” In fact, Blatchley discussed (1903, p. 434) how G. vernalis is not just the first species of Gryllus to sing in the spring but “the first Orthopteran song of the season” appearing as early as May 5 th, or about two weeks before G. veletis sings in Indiana. However, in 1960, Alexander & Bigelow christened the latter the northern spring field cricket, now simply called the spring field cricket by Walker (2019).

G. vernalis occurs in many localities with either G. fultoni and G. veletis . With enough searching, we predict that one should find all three taxa sympatric. At such a locality, one could stand and hear and discriminate the three by song and microhabitat as follows: With an air temperature between 18-25° C, i.e. warm enough for males to sing, G. vernalis more likely into deeper woods where its individual three pulses/chirp can be counted. G. fultoni can be along the forest—adjacent grassland border area where its three pulses/chirp can’t be counted because the PR is too high. G. veletis would be in the adjacent grassland only and although its pulses are too close together to be counted, one can hear that each chirp contains more than three pulses because of the chirp’s longer duration. It is easier to appreciate the differences between G. fultoni and G. vernalis ’ pulse rates when the two species are heard singing together.

Near the type locality (S03-62) of G. vernalis in Indiana, both G. vernalis and G. fultoni occurred at high densities within an open area of dense forest that was clear-cut for electrical power lines. The songs of G. vernalis were softer than those of G. fultoni , not surprising given the shorter tegmina in G. vernalis . Many individuals of both sexes of both species were walking on the surface amid various limestone rocks and organic debris.

Jang & Gerhardt (2006a, b; 2007) and Jang et al. (2007) document calling song character displacement where G. vernalis and G. fultoni are sympatric; and aggressiveness related to habitat ( Jang et al. 2008).