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Horrible monster in our driveway
Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 9:55 PM
Dear Bugman,
My boyfriend stumbled upon this palm-sized insect (2.5 or 3 inches?) today at our house in Los Angeles, CA. He was crawling around in circles and scared my boyfriend half to death. The pictures should be self explanatory. We’d like to know as much as possible about this creature. If our dog sniffed it would she get stung or pinched? It looks diabolical.
Shaken in California
Los Angeles, CA

Potato Bug

Dear Shaken,
Now that you know this is a Potato Bug or a Jerusalem Cricket, you will be able to find way more information posted online than you have time to read.  On our own web site, we have a specific section devoted to Potato Bugs, and we also have them in our Top Ten category as this is one of our most frequent identification requests from the American Southwest.  Though they can bite, Potato Bugs are harmless.

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