Katydid, grasshopper, or cockroach? Please let it be one of the first two…
Location: Cleveland, ohio suburb
August 20, 2011 5:05 pm
Hello, My husband found this insect in our northeast Ohio dining room. Our house is bordered by a large wooded area so I am thinking that it may be a katydid. However, I always worry when I see a large bug like this (can’t help myself)
Signature: worried in Ohio
Carolina Leaf Roller
Dear worried in Ohio,
Though your photo is blurry, we believe that, based on this photo posted to BugGuide, this is a female Carolina Leaf Roller, Camptonotus carolinensis, which is classified as a Raspy Cricket in the family Gryllacrididae. It isn’t classified in either the cricket family or the katydid family, though all three families are grouped together as Long-Horned Orthopterans in the suborder Ensifera. According to BugGuide, it is a beneficial insect that: “Hunts aphids at night.”
¶ Posted 21 August 2011 § ‡ ° Huge, underground, wingless wasp?!
Location: France
August 12, 2011 4:18 am
Dear Bugman,
Could you please help identify this bug? It has only 4(!) legs, no wings and is over 6 cm long. We found it yesterday in France, during daytime on a hot (30C) day.
When we released the bug, it immediately crawled into a small hole in the ground.
Signature: Yorizzz
Mole Cricket
Dear Yorizzz,
This is a Mole Cricket, not a wasp. We get identification requests for Mole Crickets from many parts of the world other than Europe, including Asia, Australia, Africa and North America.
¶ Posted 12 August 2011 § ‡ ° Red and black cricket-like insect
Location: Central Ohio
August 1, 2011 4:15 pm
Hi!
I have been seeing these little guys hanging around on my lilac bush. They look like crickets, but I haven’t been able to identify them. Perhaps it’s a katydid nymph of some kind?
Signature: Morgan in Hilliard, Ohio
Red Headed Bush Cricket
Hi Morgan,
The Red Headed Bush Cricket, Phyllopalpus pulchellus, reminds you of a Cricket because it is a true Cricket in the family Gryllidae. According to BugGuide, it is also called a Handsome Trig.
¶ Posted 01 August 2011 § ‡ ° Strange bug with claws
Location: Manipal, Karnataka, India
April 10, 2011 3:17 pm
This bug randomly flew into my hostel room. So I caught it with hopes of identifying it.
It flies and crawls really fast.
Signature: buginner
Mole Cricket
Dear buginner,
You have had a visit from a Mole Cricket. Mole Crickets are subterranean insects that use their claws to dig. As you indicated, they can also fly. They are attracted to lights which is probably the reason it flew into your room. Mole Crickets do not pose a threat to humans.
¶ Posted 11 April 2011 § ‡ ° Story of the fungi, grasshopper and spider?
Location: Pratts Falls in Onondaga County NY
March 4, 2011 2:55 pm
Hi there. I am a photographer in NY. While out to photograph waterfalls (Pratts Falls in NY to be exact) I cam upon this incredibly impressive Bearded Tooth mushroom (Hericium erinaceus). My mom is into mycology so I thought she would find this fascinating. I was not equipped with macro gear so the images are not the best quality but we thought you may enjoy them. On this fungi was what we think is a grasshopper or cricket. We are not sure exactly what it is. But he even had a hitchhiker. A little tiny spider. Again we are not sure what type of spider this is. Perhaps you will have a little info to share on the types of insects they are and might enjoy the uniqueness of this photo. Thank you for any info.
Signature: Tristi
Cricket eats Fungus and transports Spider
Hi Tristi,
Thanks so much for sending us your photo. The insect is a Cricket, and we do not recognize the hitchhiking Spider. The image is so small, it may not be possible to correctly identify the spider. Our research indicates that the Bearded Tooth Mushroom is edible.
Cricket eating Bearded Tooth Mushroom
THAILAND BUG
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
February 20, 2011 8:17 am
I happen to be in a remote village in the northeast of Thailand and chanced upon this beautiful bug. Could you please help me identify the first picture?
The second picture is actually our snack this afternoon, just to share with you.
Signature: Joseph
Longicorn
Hi Joseph,
Your beetle is a Long Horned Borer Beetle in the family Cerambycidae. They are frequently called Longicorns. We are trying to tear ourselves away from the computer to enjoy the morning sunshine since we have had a string of storms here in Los Angeles the past few days, so we are not going to take the time at the moment to hunt down a species identification for you. Perhaps one of our readers will provide a comment. Your snack appears to be Crickets with Green Onions, but we are not certain. Can you verify the identity of your snack as well as providing any information on where you purchased it? We understand insect food items are commonly sold by street vendors in Thailand.
Bug Snack might be Crickets
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your quick reply.
The snack is not cricket with green onions. I really have no idea the English name but in Thailand it is know as “maeng-ser-din” it is not even a Thai language but rather a dialect spoken by the north-east people of Thailand which constitute the largest group of ethnic people in Thailand. They are known as the Essan or Isaan people. If you follow the news here they belong to the red shirt people. I could not find a live maeng-ser-din so I Googled and found this:
These are not like from the drain or some dirty places on the contrary they are reared in a form like his:
As for the green stuff it is commonly known as Pandan leaf here. South East Asian cooking uses a lot of this to add a natural sweet fragrance or natural green colour to the food. It is also use to wrap food and deserts to add fragrance. The other name is Screw Pine leaf or Pandanus and looks like this:
joe
Crickets: Photo from the Internet
Thanks for the follow up Joe. We wish you had included links to the images you found. We had no luck googling “maeng-ser-din” and we wanted to allow our readership to see the images you attached to your response. We don’t normally use images grabbed from the internet, but in this case, we are making an exception. The image you attached does depict Crickets, and Crickets are easy to raise in bulk in captivity.
Identification Courtesy of Karl
Hi Daniel and Joseph:
The Longicorn appears to be a female Gerania bosci (Lamiinae: Lamiini), which occurs from India to Indonesia. There is some variability in the coloration, ranging from brown to black markings on a nearly white to bright yellow background. The males are larger and have much elongated appendages. Regards. Karl
Bug Identification
Location: Perth, Western Australia, Australia
February 15, 2011 4:20 am
Hi,
I found this bug at my school and my girlfriends and I got a little freaked out. The bug in the photo is real size. My nickname is nature freak and I was just wondering what the bug is if I come across it again, i could tell my girlfriends.
Signature: Grace Holness
Mole Cricket
Dear Grace,
You encountered a Mole Cricket. Mole Crickets have a global distribution and we get submissions from many locations, though most of the reported sightings we get are from North America and the Middle East as well as Australia.
Unknown bug
Location: Slovenia, Ljubljana, Cellar
January 30, 2011 9:16 am
The bug seems like a nymph of some cricket but that is just my speculation.
It is approximately 1.5 cm in lenght.
It was found in a cellar of an apartment building during winter.
Hope you find the time to answer.
Regards
Signature: Nik Pečanac
Cricket
Hi Nik,
Your suspicions that this is a Cricket are correct, and the undeveloped wings indicate that it is most likely an immature nymph. The lack of an ovipositor indicates that this is a male, and we believe it is in the Field Cricket subfamily Gryllinae based on BugGuide imagery and that it is most likely the House Cricket, Achetus domesticus, a species that is raised as food for many exotic pets like Tarantulas and Lizards. Perhaps someone in the apartment building has a pet and this guy escaped being eaten. Here is a nice online article on the House Cricket by Louise Kulzer.
¶ Posted 30 January 2011 § ‡ ° 
rss
I like This
