This little tree cricket nymph is less than 8 hours old.  It hatched from a stem of Goldenrod.  'It' turned out to be a female Black-horned Tree Cricket.  From the tip of her face to the tip of her abdomen - she is about 3mm long.  Despite her young age, she was able to 'jump' -- although she lacked aim and coordination -- and looked like a piece of popcorn popping! 

Tree crickets are extremely tiny when they emerge from their holes in plant or tree stems.  This little nymph is only 10 minutes old.  This fingernail measures 1/2 inch from base to tip!

 Tree Crickets are in the Suborder of Ensifera (long antennae).  This is evident from the time of birth.  This little tree cricket is not yet one day old, yet its antennae are nearly twice the length of its body.

This little nymph is less than 24 hours old.  At this stage it resembles a brownish Two-spotted Tree Cricket; however, it is actually a Black-horned Tree Cricket.  Just as with adult Black-horned Tree Crickets, the young vary greatly in coloration - from brown to green.  Even at this young age, one can see the black 'horns' antennae.

This first stage instar is eating aphids on a Goldenrod leaf.  Tree crickets also eat the hair-like plant fibers found on leaves.

Tree crickets easily rest in this position by securing their hind claws into the leaf.  These little instars must cling tightly during windy days as the leaves get battered by wind.  They do sometimes lose their grip in high wind situations and are thrown to the ground.  They walk and jump their way back to the stem of the plant or the trunk of the tree and climb right back up.

Patterns on Abdomens of different species    (Please note:  These are observations made on instars of different species raised to adulthood.  Not all species have been personally observed in their instar stages; therefore, these field marks may also be present on other species not shown below).

Two-spotted instars have REDDISH BROWN abdomens with no special markings.

Davis' instars have a row of LARGE WHITE CIRCLES WITH A GREENISH SPOT IN THE CENTER running along the sides of their abdomen.

Narrow-winged instars have a THICK WHITE STROKED PATTERN on the sides of their abdomen.

Snowy instars have WHITE SPOTS situated in rows on their abdomen.

Black-horned instars have WHITE DASHES in rows on top of their abdomen and VERTICAL WHITE STRIPES in rows on the sides of their abdomens..

 Forbes' instars have rows of THICK YELLOW MARKS on the sides of the abdomen, with rows of very SMALL YELLOWISH SPOTS lateral to both the center line and above the thick yellow on the sides of the abdomen.

Pine instars can easily be distinguished from all other tree crickets except the Tamarack tree cricket.  This Pine tree cricket is only 3 weeks old and less than 6mm long, but you can already see the brownish tinge to the head and pronotum, as well as reddish coloring of the back limbs.