Did you know that insects can hear? Many do. If you were looking for a bug's ear where would you look? Some insects like mosquitoes hear with their feather-like antennae. Crickets and katydids have their ears on their front legs just underneath what you might call their "knees". Preying mantids hear with one ear between their legs and some beetles have ears on their necks. The fragile lacewing insects can even hear with their wings. So insects have ears in some pretty strange places.
      What do insects listen to? Well that depends. In some insects males and females find each other by singing and listening for an answer. Crickets are good examples. The crickets that you hear when you are out at night are quite likely males. Male crickets sing by rubbing their wings together. Females answer in the same way. So cricket ears are very important. If you listen carefully you will note that different kinds of crickets have different songs. This allows the female cricket to tell her kind of male from all of the others that are singing.
      Do insects listen to anything else? Yes they do. Many night-flying insects listen for their worst enemies. They listen for the echolocation cries of insect-eating bats. This means that some insect ears can hear the very high pitches produced by bats. So we can't hear bats but insects can! If they hear a bat coming most insects have two options. If the bat cries are weak and distant the insect can just turn and fly away. If the bat cries are strong and close the insect is in serious trouble and starts to twist and turn to make it difficult for the bat to catch it. Sometimes the insect gets away and sometimes it doesn't.
      

Bug ears

Crickets and Katydids- The ears of katydids are located on on the outside of their front legs.
       Crickets and katydids use their ears to listen for mates and bats.

SEM by Anna Price

Locusts-

Moths- Moth ears look like tiny eardrums. In tiger moths the ears they are located either side of the thorax.
      They point to the side and to the rear so that a bat cannot sneak up on them.

SEM by Margie Rodgers

Beetles- Beetle ears are strange. In tiger beetles the ears are found underneath their wings.
They can only hear when they are flying. What better time to listen for bats?
Some scarab beetles that their ears on the necks. When they hear a bat they quickly drop out of the sky.

Green Lace wings- The ears of green lacewings can be found on the underneath side
of the forewings.

Sem by Greg Herzog

FUN Experiment on bug hearing: Find a very bright light near your house. Note that it is surrounded by insects at night. Watch carefully and you may see a bat that visits the light to catch insects. Watch the reactions of the insects to an approaching bat.
Now jingle a set of keys at the insects. Do you see the insects respond. Why?