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Habitats for Grasshoppers, Crickets & Fireflies

Grasshoppers, crickets and fireflies inhabit many of the same environments, particularly fields and meadows. During late spring and summer, you should be able to see at least one of these insects throughout an open area. Grasshoppers and crickets are very closely related, with one kind often mistakenly identified as the other. Fireflies, on the other hand, are soft-bodied beetles.

Grasshoppers
- Grasshoppers have large, prominent eyes.
  
  Grasshoppers prefer habitats full of low-growing vegetation on which they feed. In an urban setting, parks, vacant city lots and grass-filled gardens are ideal habitats for grasshopper species. In more rural areas, grasshoppers are abundant throughout yards, meadows and grassy fields.
  
  Habitats that don't support grasshopper populations are swamps -- both freshwater and mangrove-like -- and deep, thick forests with little to no low-growing vegetation.
  
  The three main families of grasshopper are Arcrididae, or the short-horned grasshoppers; Tettigoniidae, the long-horned grasshoppers and katydids; and Tetrigidae, the pygmy grasshoppers.
Crickets
- Crickets are light brown to black.
  
  Unlike grasshoppers, the many varieties of cricket have habitats as diverse as the different types. Field and ground crickets, as their names imply, prefer to live outdoors. House crickets prefer to live indoors, although during warm weather they also inhabit the outdoors, particularly near garbage dumps full of decaying matter they can feed on. All stages of life for house crickets can live indoors in warm, dark places. Camel crickets, also called "cave" crickets, prefer to live in cool, dark, damp places such as under rocks and logs. Indoors, camel crickets live in basements or crawl spaces when the weather turns cooler. Mole crickets, much like their namesake, live underground in tunnels.
Fireflies
- Fireflies have lights on their abdomens which they use for communication and mating.
  
  In the temperate climates covering most of the United States, a few firefly species inhabit a wide range of habitats. In most areas, they prefer deciduous forests, small urbanized areas and agricultural fields. More urbanized areas don't have the water supply that fireflies require. Because adult fireflies are nocturnal, they hide during the day in a variety of shelters created by plants such as dandelions and poison ivy.
  
  Throughout the world, most species of firefly are represented in tropical Asia, Central America and South America. Some species are fully aquatic, living their entire lives underwater.
Other Information
- The majority of these creatures are herbivore or omnivores. Many crickets and firefly larvae feed on decaying matter, plant or animal. Because of this, they are important in helping to break down organic materials back into the soil. Each of these species also plays an important role in the ecosystem because they're prey for a variety of creatures such as spiders, birds, amphibians, reptiles and other insects.

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