Remember those sleepless nights of tossing and turning because of an irritating little cricket? Well good news, insomniacs. Nature found a way to silence them – but it only helps if you’re in Hawaii. (Sorry.)

Flies on the Hawaiian island of Kauai targeted a certain type of cricket in order to implant their babies in the bodies. The larvae used the cricket as food, and the crickets eventually died.

Male crickets were the main targets because they chirped and were therefore easy to locate.

On facing the prospect of being devoured from the inside, the crickets made an executive decision and opt to “shush” for a while.

It worked in their favour. The cricket population has increased in recent years. The new kids on the block differ from their great grandparents, though – the chirping parts on their wings have ceased to work.

Natural selection saved the day … or is that the crickets? Through mutation, the body parts that resulted in their horrible deaths were eventually bred out.

Now we just need to get a few of those flies here in South Africa!

• Orchids fool wasps into “mating” with them. Non-poisonous king snakes mimic poisonous coral snakes. Read more about the wonders of natural selection
• How to raise your own cricket
• Fascinated with bugs? Why don’t you become an entomologist?
• A cricket infected with a parasitic worm commits suicide. Watch the video.