These side-by-side Narrow-winged tree crickets are male and female.  The male is on the left.  Note his paddle-shaped wings which lay flat atop his body.  The wings of the female wrap around the sides of her body.  In addition, the females have an ovipositor at the distal end of their abdomen.  They use this long tube-like structure to drill into branches and woody stems to lay their eggs.                                                              In most species, the coloring of the two sexes match.  This is not the case with Two-spotted tree crickets - males and females look distinctly different.  This is often true as well for Black-horned tree crickets -- they come in such a wide variety of colors, that the male and female of any given pair may look quite different.     

        The male Two-spotted tree cricket has a reddish-brown head and pronotum, while his wings are a pale creamy pink color.  The female, is distinctly different in appearance.

    While the female also has a reddish-brown head and pronotum, the markings on her body are distinctly different from those of the male.  There are two large dark patches connected by a dark colored bridge.

Black-horned tree crickets (O. nigricornis) can be green, black, or a combination of these colors.  In this photo, the male has a striking black head, pronotum, body and limbs.  His wings are light green.  The yellowish color of this female is a sign of old age.  The antennae and limbs of this species may be black or they may be green. 

 This Black-horned tree cricket has green legs and and a green body.  His head and pronotum were also mainly green - although he did have a patch of black on his head and pronotum.  What helps make an ID of his species is that dark black antennae visible on his right side.

This is a female Black-horned tree cricket.  Note her overall green color, but she too has dark antennae.  Despite their name, however, not all Black-horned tree crickets have black antennae -- some are light brown and some are green.  At times the only way to make a definite ID is by the antennal markings or by the pulse rate of the male's song.

ANTENNAL MARKINGS     One feature which is same on both males and females is the antennal markings found on the first and second antennal segments.  Each species has different markings.  Sometimes there are very slight variations within one species; sometimes the markings are so similar between species it is difficult to identify them by these markings alone.  The photos below show the markings for different species. 

This is a Black-horned tree cricket.  The first antennal segment, the scape, and the second segment, the pedicel, are the only segments that have these special marks.  There are different degrees of the amount of black seen on the scape, and the 2d segment either has 2 vertical lines or this 'V' formation.

The antennal markings of the Fast-calling tree cricket (O. celerinictus) are very similar to those on the Black-horned tree cricket.

The markings on the antennae of the Forbes' tree cricket (O. forbesi) are also very similar to those of the Black-horned tree cricket.   Generally only the pulse rate of a calling male can distinguish whether it is that of a male O. nigricornis versus O. forbesi. 

These are antennal markings of the Four-spotted tree crickets (O. quadripunctatus).  This individual does have 'spots' on the top outer portion of the 1st antennal segment -- but at times they are more dash-like and thus very similar to O. nigricornis or O. forbesi.

  The Pine tree cricket (O. pini) has antennal markings similar to: Black-horned, Four-spotted, Forbes', and Fast-calling. These species are all part of the nigricornis group.   The Pine tree cricket, however, has distinct coloring to set him apart from other species.  Only the Tamarack tree cricket is similar (not yet represented by photo on this website).

The Narrow-winged tree cricket has a ' J ' shaped mark on the first antennal segment and a teardrop shaped mark on the second segment.  In this photo, you can see the hooks of the ' J '. 

The Snowy tree cricket (O. fultoni) has black spots on the antennal markings -- one on the first segment and one on the second segment.  They are usually equal in size and positioned in the center of the segment.

 The antennal markings on Alexander's tree cricket are similar to those of the Snowy tree cricket.  Indeed, the best way to tell these two species apart is by the pattern of their chirps. 

  The Western tree cricket (O. californicus) sometimes has a single black linear mark on the first two antennal segments; sometimes there are no marks. This brown-form Western tree cricket has no markings. 

The Two-spotted tree cricket lacks markings -- but the 1st segment of their antennae is distinctively shaped.  Note the 'knob' on the upper outer portion.