• Question: what is the biggest bone in a cricket

    Asked by anon-226207 to Freya on 19 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Freya Addison

      Freya Addison answered on 19 Nov 2019: last edited 19 Nov 2019 12:03 pm

      Thank you for asking this question, I learnt from this too! I spoke to my colleague Tom Dally and he was able to answer.
      Crickets don’t have any bones.
      They have an exoskeleton rather than an inner one which means their skeleton is actually the cuticle (or shell) that covers the outside of their body. Their muscles attach on the inside of their skeleton, rather than on the outside, like with humans. This is why insects (and other arthropods, like crabs) have to moult, moulting their old exoskeleton allows them to grow.
      Most insects’ exoskeletons are made of chitin.
      The biggest single body part is, though is probably their hind femurs (thighs)

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