I like to think of natural silence as the canvas upon which other sounds are painted. (Dr. Timothy C Mullet)
Orthopteran-Culinary Gathering October 5, 2026
Cesare Brizio on the left, together with myself, Marco Pesente. Photo by Filippo Maria Buzzetti
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On October 5, 2026, Cesare Brizio, Filippo Maria Buzzetti, and I met up for an evening dedicated to recording orthopterans and, while we were at it, enjoying a dinner among friends!
We focused, in particular, on Rhacocleis annulata and Conocephalus conocephalus, two orthopteran species that, until a few years ago, had never been recorded in this area (or, in fact, anywhere in Northern Italy) but are now present in truly significant numbers.
Also present on the occasion were a few two-spotted crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) singing in the distance; Filippo and Cesare managed to capture some recordings of them for documentation purposes.
We took the opportunity to test three different devices suitable for ultrasonic recording: two ultrasonic microphones produced by Dodotronic (Ultramic 384K EVO and Ultramic 384K BLE) and one (also with a 384 kHz sampling rate) marketed by Apodemus (Pippyg2). Of these, the Ultramic 384K BLE and the Pippyg2 can function as programmable, standalone recorders; all three, however, can also be used for recording when connected via USB to a mobile phone, tablet, or laptop.
It should be noted that, although Filippo and Cesare used two devices containing the same microphone capsules (an omnidirectional electret for frequencies within the audible range and a MEMS sensor for ultrasonic frequencies) they applied different recording gain settings: Filippo set his to 2, while Cesare set his to 3. Consequently, Filippo’s recordings turned out to be cleaner.
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Here are some examples of recordings in the form of waveforms and spectrograms.
Rhacocleis annulata recorded by Cesare ULTRAMIC 384K BLE
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Rhacocleis annulata recorded by Filippo – ULTRAMIC 384k EVO
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Rhacocleis annulata recorded by Marco – Pippyg2 (on the background Conocephalus conocephalus)
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Conocephalus conocephalus recorded by Cesare ULTRAMIC 384K BLE
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Conocephalus conocephalus recorded by Filippo – ULTRAMIC 384K EVO
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Here, Conocephalus conocephalus recorded by Marco Pippig2
(in the background are other distant C. conocephalus)
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Filippo also recorded the two-spotted cricket Gryllus bimaculatus (here a not so common two-syllable song) to verify that it was indeed a two-spotted cricket and not a field cricket.
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At the end of the recording session, we treated ourselves to a sort of dinner featuring products from the Veneto and Emilia regions: piadina with stortina (a type of salami from Verona), accompanied by Lambrusco wine from Reggio Emilia!
We spent a very pleasant and productive evening together!
That evening turned out for me, not only into a great opportunity to clear my doubts, but also into an extraordinary dinner among friends. Thanks Marco and Cesare!