Males of the slender, somewhat flattened, and spindle-shaped cricket known as the Jumping Bush Cricket (Orocharis saltator) produce a conspicuous, irregularly repeated rich trilling peep. Neighboring males often sing at slightly different pitches. These crickets often begin singing at dusk.
Jumping Bush Crickets are found in the southeastern United States north to Missouri, Ohio, and New Jersey, but not in peninsular Florida or southeastern Georgia (according to Himmelman [2009], this species occurs as far north as Connecticut). Most specimens are easily categorized as belonging to one of two color forms. The light form is light brown with dark markings, especially on the face, whereas the dark form is brownish gray and heavily marked with brownish black, including a stripe that extends from the eye to the rear of the lateral lobe of the pronotum. These crickets are found in broadleaf trees and sometimes in herbaceous undergrowth, shrubs, and pine trees. There is one generation annually and the animals overwinter in the egg stage. Adults may be found as early as July or August. The False Jumping Bush Cricket (O. lurolira), which has a narrower but overlapping distribution, has a different calling song but no known morphological differences.
(Capinera et al. 2004)
I was particularly interested to hear about the Jumping Bush Cricket (Orocharis saltator), a species that I had never seen before, but always really wanted to...
