Potato Bug … In Florida?????????

bugman

May 12th, 2009 at 9:50 pm

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Wierd bug , dont know what it is
Tue, May 12, 2009 at 2:18 PM
Hi, I found a weird bug by the back wall of my vacation house in Florida and i was hoping you could tell me what it is. I didn’t know if i should have killed it or kept it, so i decided to let it go. Please write back.
Thanks, Ryan
back wall of my vacation house in florida

Potato Bug, In Florida???

Hi Ryan,
The identification of your Potato Bug or Jerusalem Cricket, genus Stenopelmatus is easy enough, but the rest of your letter is quite perplexing. Potato Bugs range, to the best of our knowledge, in the western U.S. primarily in the arid Southwest, though there are reports from as far north as Canada according to BugGuide. If you letter is not a hoax, then this sighting must surely be an accidental introduction. We also wonder if this is an isolated event, or if by some odd chance Potato Bugs have been introduced to Florida and are breeding. Time will tell.

Comment: Wed, 13 May 2009 00:16:25 -0700
Daniel:
I would reach the same conclusion you have: an accidental introduction if the location is correct. They are known as far east as western Nebraska, last I heard, so I suppose it is not a huge stretch….
Keep up the great work!
Eric Eaton

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Comments 1

cjvector wrote:
this is a bug I know from my childhood in Miami, Florida. I swear to you! I just searched for it as a chinch bug, because that’s what I used to call them. I would see them in my yard and used to hear my father say we had chinch bugs if we had brown spots in the yard. I assumed that’s what a chinch bug was. Thank you for the site. I just saw a photo of a dog that looked JUST LIKE ONE! had to find a photo of this bug to show the owner of the dog.
Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 10:42 pm ¶