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A male and a female tree cricket on a plant.

To pinpoint baffling’s evolutionary origins, Dr. Deb and his colleagues at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where he earned his doctorate, eavesdropped on tree crickets of the species Oecanthus henryi.

The tree cricket can’t eke out many decibels on its puny, papery wings.

Though this is somewhat less accurate for field crickets than for his purported study species, the snowy tree cricket, his “Cricket as a Thermometer” study revealed a formula that can be simplified for practical use.

The word cicada means “tree cricket” in classical Greek.