Description: These familiar black, brown, or tan crickets are celebrated singers. There are several species in North America, and many are hard to tell apart. They share in common large heads, hind legs adapted for jumping, and stout, unmovable spines on the hind legs. Adult females have a needlelike (but harmless) ovipositor extending outward from the abdomen; all have a pair of circi extending from the abdomen (each cercus functions like an antenna).