The story
From dune (“a hill of sand, especially in a desert”) + cricket (“kind of insect”), named for the sandy habitats which they live in.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
dune cricket
Today it means: Any orthopteran in the family Schizodactylidae, not too distantly related to the true crickets in the family Gryllidae, known for inhabiting sandy areas. Full definition →