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Hello there,
I was wondering if you could help me identify a bug I recently found IN MY HAIR! (ick) I live in Central Illinois and on the day I discovered this little fellow I had been outside most of the day but I didnt realize he was on me until I was in the bathroom so I’m not exactly sure where I picked him up at.
The bug is dark yellow/light brown in color. It has long antennae… almost 3 times the size of its body. It has six legs and can jump like crazy!! My husband also noticed that it seems to have 4 little feelers on the sides of its mouth. The thing that bothers me most about this bug is that it appears to have a large stinger on the end of its abdomen although it hasn’t seemed to be attempting an attack. Also, I may be crazy but it appears to be getting darker in color from when I found it yesterday (he was more yellow when I found him).
I’ve included a picture of the peculiar thing.
Thanks for your help!
Amelia W.

Dear Amelia,
She is harmless. She is a nymph, an immature orthopteran, maybe a cricket of some sort. Then Eric wrote to us: “The insect from Amelia in Central Illinois is actually a female leaf-rolling cricket, Camptonotus carolinensis, and I’d LOVE to see the pictures at higher resolution. The Leaf Rolling Cricket is more or less, a camel cricket. We still need an example for the field guide.” Sadly, these images were very small and we don’t know how to contact Amelia any longer.

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