How to Identify a Grasshopper and a Cricket

Look at the antennae. Those of crickets are usually much larger in relation to their body. Indeed, in a number of species like bush-crickets, the thread-like antennae well exceed the body in length. In this respect, crickets ally themselves with the katydids, to whom they are more closely related; both belong to the suborder Ensifera, the "long-horned" Orthoptera. Close scrutiny will also reveal that crickets typically have more than 30 segments in their antennae, while grasshoppers have fewer than that.

Consider the hind legs. Crickets are characterized by well-developed back limbs---put to good and obvious use when they leap. In many cases, the hind legs of grasshoppers are proportionately larger than those of crickets.

Watch the insect "singing"---or, more technically, "stridulating." Most crickets that stridulate do so by rubbing together their fore wings, creating that raspy chirping sound. Stridulating grasshoppers, by contrast, draw their hind legs across their wings.

Note the color. By itself, this helps mainly with identifying species, but as a general rule, crickets are usually darker than grasshoppers. There are enough exceptions, of course, like the light green tree crickets, to muddy the waters.

Familiarize yourself with the basic families of grasshoppers and crickets in your area to work toward identifying an orthopterid.This means observing prominent physical characteristics---striking color banding, a humped back, length of the wings---and cross-referencing them with an appropriate field guide and/or taxonomic key.