Eerie Cricket Thingy
Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Yesterday a mysterious reddish-brown pill shaped object suddenly began emerging from the underside of one of our pet crickets. Looks like some sort of egg, but from what we can tell, cricket eggs don’t look like this. The cricket seemed healthy before this emerged, and was alive for a while when it first appeared, but now is dead. Could it be that some other insect such as a wasp laid its eggs inside the cricket as a host? I’ve heard of them doing this to caterpillars, but crickets? Or is it something else?
Paul and Stella
Los Angeles
Unknown Cricket Parasite: Tachinid Fly???
Hi Paul and Stella,
This is a new one for us and we will need to do some research. We will also try to contact Eric Eaton to see if he has an opinion. We, like you, suspect this is some type of internal parasite that has had its meal and is perhaps pupating outside the cricket’s body. It would be interesting to see what, if anything, eventually emerges. If we were betting, we would bet on a Tachinid Fly. Moments after we posted, we found an online article on a Tachinid Fly, Ormia ochracea, that parasitizes crickets.
Unknown Cricket Parasite: Tachinid Fly???
Hi, Daniel:
The object protruding from the deceased cricket is indeed a fly puparium (the rigid last larval ’skin’ enclosing a fly pupa). It could certainly be a tachinid fly, but there are also other flies that are parasitic on crickets, especially some members of the flesh fly family (Sarcophagidae). I’d personally be hard-pressed to identify even the adult fly once it emerges, though a dipterist (fly expert) could.
Eric
What is this bug? Can You help It jumps?
Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 8:38 PM
Can you please help me identify this bug. It jumps and first I saw them in my basement but now they seem to be showing up all over my house. They are brownish and they jump pretty high and are quick. Any idea what they are and where do they come from. I appreciate any help you can give me.
Thank you,
Suzanne
long island, new york
Camel Cricket
Hi Suzanne,
This is a Camel Cricket or Cave Cricket in the family Rhaphidophoridae. Unlike other crickets, they do not chirp because they don’t have wings. Here is what BugGuide has to say about them: “If these occur in a house the best treatment is to remove them and their breeding habitat – cool moist dark places such as piles of logs or boards in basements. A clean dry home will not be a welcoming place for these guys. Although they are scary-looking they are basically harmless to humans, except perhaps for minor damage to stored items, and are easily discouraged by eliminating the dark damp habitat they prefer. “
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Posted 09 November 2008
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unknown insect?
Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 10:15 PM
While preparing to move things in for the winter, I found these six bugs huddled together behind something for protection against the rain and cold. They are on the side of a tall, fake rock flower bed. I’ve had what I thought were crickets in my basement for the last two summers, but didn’t pay much attention, other then they never made any noises, which I found unusual. The ones in my basement may have looked like these I didn’t pay much attention, I just got them out of there. They don’t jump real well. They freaked my daughter out every time she went down there. What are the ones on the wall?? Please help me I’m stumped.
Jenny
Missouri
Camel Crickets
Hi Jenny,
We get numerous requests for the identification of Camel Crickets or Cave Crickets in the family Rhaphidophoridae, but rarely do we get an accompanying photo as awesome as yours. According to BugGuide: “If these occur in a house the best treatment is to remove them and their breeding habitat – cool moist dark places such as piles of logs or boards in basements. A clean dry home will not be a welcoming place for these guys. Although they are scary-looking they are basically harmless to humans, except perhaps for minor damage to stored items, and are easily discouraged by eliminating the dark damp habitat they prefer.” We are wondering if we will hear from David Gracer that they are edible.
Thank you for identifying these! Now that you have, I’ve done a little reading. That they eat their own limbs to avoid starving. Apparently the ones on the left ate their back right legs. I wondered why they were missing. We have had a few in the basement. But I found these outside. I have been collecting fossil rocks, I guess its time to put them in a plastic container and away inside.
Thanks so much for your help.
Camel Crickets
Hi again Jenny,
Thanks for the additional information. We also got a comment from a reader who discovered some eating canine feces and David Gracer wrote back that though they are theoretically edible, Camel Crickets probably don’t taste very good because of their diet. Many members in this order, Orthoptera, will cannibalize their own species if they can’t find food. Also, legs get lost for a variety of reasons, and may be eaten if they are severed.
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Posted 26 October 2008
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Mormon Cricket Eating A Grasshopper
Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 4:37 PM
Here’s a photo of a Mormon Cricket eating grasshopper roadkill. It was on a dirt road in the mountains of Southern Idaho. It might work into Bug Carnage…
Also include a side shot of a Mormon Cricket on the same road.
Congrats on the site redesign!
Rush
Mountain Home, Idaho, USA
Mormon Cricket eats Grasshopper Roadkill
Hi Rush,
Your photos are both positively gorgeous. Mormon Crickets are omnivorous feeders. They are credited with destroying crops, but they will also cannibalize one another if there is no other food. That dead grasshopper was just too appealing to be passed by. Your profile shot shows the impressive swordlike ovipositor of the female Mormon Cricket. For clarification, our Unnecessary Carnage section is reserved for the deliberate killing of insects by people for no apparent reason. Thanks for the compliment on our new site design.
Female Mormon Cricket
some type of slender, green orthopteran?
Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 2:49 PM
The picture says it all – found near Portland, OR, at the edge of a wetland area. It was observed on a tarweed plant, as pictured. My hand is in the background for scale.
I know a few insect Orders from a class I took in college, but that’s as clever as I get with this stuff. This is your cup of tea, not mine. Can you tell me what this pretty lil’ guy is called?
Heather Arndt Anderson
Portland, OR
Tree Cricket
Hi Heather,
This is a Tree Cricket in the genus Oecanthus. We don’t feel confident enough to identify the species, but you may research the possibilities on BugGuide.
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Posted 11 October 2008
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Foot sized insect/bug, can’t find anywhere on Internet
Hello,
I don’t know if you replied to this email, unfortunately if you did I think it may have went into the spam box. Could you forward me your message again please?
Many thanks
Hello,
Whilst in Turkey the other year I come across this insect which for the life of me I can’t seem to find out what it is. It was easily as large as my foot and has a large spike as a tail – easily the most horrid, chunkiest thing I’ve ever seen! I tried to get a better photo but it crawled away into dense dried shrubs & grass, and to be honest I was so scared of it I couldn’t get any closer. I seem to think it may be part of the Cricket family. I’ve seen similar, much smaller ones, around 5-10cm’s in length usually in bathrooms or patio’s. The first two photo’s are of the large one, the other’s are the similar, smaller type (with the strange tail) and were found in a bathroom (one under the toilet seat!!!).
Can you please let me know what it is and any more information you could give me? I can send the full sized photo’s if need be.
Thank you so much!
Stephen Donoghue
Unknown Turkish Orthopteran
Hi Stephen,
Your original letter arrived during our transition phase to our new website format and many more letters went unanswered during that period, though in actuality, many letters always go unanswered to to the sheer volume of mail we receive. Your photos represent two different species of Orthopterans, and since the one found indoors is an immature nymph, we doubt we will be able to get you an accurate identification. The “foot sized” insect is also a Long Horned Orthopteran in the suborder Ensifera. We really don’t want to go any further with an identification attempt on this, but we can say that the stinger you mentioned is the ovipositor of a female. We hope one of our readers has time to research this posting and can write in with a comment. We will also see if Eric Eaton can supply any information.
Eric Eaton Replies:
Daniel:
I am reasonably confident that the unknown Turkish orthopteran is an adult female wingless katydid in the family Tettigoniidae, subfamily Saginae, and genus Saga. I found an online checklist of Turkish Orthoptera that lists ten species of Saga in that nation, so I will leave it for others to assign a species name to this specimen. Very interesting animals!
Eric
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Posted 28 September 2008
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Katydids
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NOT A QUESTION; I noticed that you don’t have a picture of a mormon cricket so I am sending you one (if you want it)
I was up from Austin visiting my dad in Idaho Falls, Idaho, while we were driving the quad I noticed this big shiney black bulb looking thing so I went and got him and my daughter and we drove to the spot and stopped to see what it was, we saw that it was an ugly bug with it’s butt in the ground (I am guess it was laying eggs). He told me it was a mormon cricket ( I know that probably isn’t the real name), I didn’t see one on your sight so I took a picture. On our way back to camp we saw one with it’s horn sticking out about to lay eggs so I took a picture of that one too. I hope this is something you can use! USA Northwest (southeast Idaho)
Jen
Mormon Cricket
Hi Jen,
It is amusing that you sent your letter right after we posted a letter with a lengthy response about the Mormon Cricket. Did you try using our search engine? We also have several submissions buried in the archives.
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Posted 22 September 2008
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I Want My Wife Back, I Bugged Her with a bug
This has got to be the strangest jumping – stinger tailed – almost grass hopper I’ve ever seen. It does not have wings, has a long stinger looking thingie with something else protruding out of its hind end above the long stinger. Perhaps that is a suit case or is it just me wondering if my wife will ever return to our mountain Cabin in Utah with those things crawling around. I saw this critter crawling on the ground and naturally called my sweetie to come and have a look at it. When it jumped, she did too and hasn’t quit slapping her legs with her hands ever since for fear there are others crawling up her pant legs. I put it in a plastic cup and it climbed right up the side. I figure I’ll be rather famous for discovering this never before seen bug (at least by us) and could use the notoriety as I’m not too tallented in any other area. I’m not too good of a cook and I’m going to get pretty hungry up there if you don’t respond and tell her it is completely harmless. If you’ve never seen one either, just lie a little so I can get her to cook up some grub, and I don’t mean worms. Either way, she won’t believe me when I explain to her that it is quite tame and slow moving. There she goes, slapping at her legs again.
Wasatch Mountains, Oakley, Utah
Cabin Fever and Slap Happy, NOT!
Mormon Cricket
Dear Cabin Fever and Slap Happy, NOT!,
You should have learned in the third grade not to chase girls with spiders and snakes and Mormon Crickets, but we believe we can provide you with enough historical information to entice your wife back to your rustic cabin. Your Shield-Backed Katydid known as a Mormon Cricket, Anabrus simplex, though BugGuide indicates there are other members in the genus and exact identification may be difficult with the examination of the specimen. Legend has it that when the first Mormons arrived in Utah in 1848, they were saved from famine when seagulls suddenly appeared and ate the swarm of Mormon Crickets that was about to devour the first wheat crop. The Wikipedia page on the Mormon Cricket has plenty of good information, and you might also want to visit the Wikipedia page on the Miracle of the Gulls. With regards to the “stinger” you mentioned on your specimen, it is actually the ovipositor of the female Mormon Cricket. She uses the ovipositor to deposit her eggs deep in the soil. Since Wikipedia mentions that Native Americans consumed the Mormon Cricket, we will include it on our edible insect page and we expect that David Gracer, whose Sunrise Land Shrimp webiste is devoted to edible insects, will probably add a comment to this posting. Should you and your wife be living in your secluded cabin after a natural or man-made catastrophe (is there really a difference these days?), you may need to survive by eating the Mormon Crickets. Your wife may want to begin experimenting with the culinary possibilities soon. Should your wife not return to you, you may be eating these succulent morsels yourself. It appears as though the individual in your photo has been injured.
Update: David Gracer’s Input
Hi Daniel,
Congratulations on your overhaul. It must have been a lot of work. Regarding those crickets/katydids, this species might have been the most important kind of edible insect traditionally utilized by American Indians. Euro-American observers have written many pages describing the collection methods and preparation techniques concerning this species; nearly all of that documentation occurred in the mid 1800s. I’m told that the ones which have eaten cultivated alfalfa taste a good deal better than those which have consumed wild sagebrush, but thus far I haven’t had the opportunity to sample this species for myself. Best regards, Dave
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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Posted 24 August 2008
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Hump back with HUGE thighs in Hood River, Oregon
I love your website, and spent about 3 hours looking at pictures trying to ID my cricket/katydid. It isn’t what I think it is. We found this in my front yard while digging out fence posts. I can’t see any wings, it’s back is armored and humped, it’s coppery brown and very shiny, about an inch long. I was most impressed with it’s huge thighs! Can you help? Thanks,
Kathy Petersen in Oregon.
Hi Kathy,
In our opinion, this is a Camel Cricket in the family Rhaphidophoridae, though it does not look like the basement dwelling species we usually receive. We believe your specimen is in the genus Ceuthophilus, as evidenced by images posted to BugGuide.
Update: (08/26/2008) from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
The camel cricket is just that, probably in the genus Ceuthophilus or Pristoceuthophilus. It looks like a combination of the two, actually! Males of Pristoceuthophilus usually have a dramatic bow in the hind tibia, which this specimen does not have. So, it might be a genus I am unfamiliar with….
Eric Eaton
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Posted 24 August 2008
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Ugly looking bugger!
Hi,
Have had trouble identifying this ugly thing that we found in Rhodes, Greece a few weeks ago. He was crawling on the tiled area behind our sunbeds, but looked out of place – perhaps normally an earth dweller, though I fear that the Carrion Crows which resided around the hotel hunted these creatures and may have dropped one? I hope you can help – we didnt kill it, but we stayed well away. Scariest thing I have seen in a long time. The nearest I am getting is the Weta, but none of the species had the fat, muscular trailing half legs things. Thanks,
Kyla
Hi Kyla,
Over the years, we have received 100s if not 1000s of letters and images of Mole Crickets from around the world, and we have posted a good amount on our Cricket pages, but we have never seen a lovlier, more dramatic photo. Mole Crickets are subterranean, and some are capable of flight.
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Posted 02 July 2008
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Winged Weta?
Hi
I have previously sent you an email regarding this lovely animal. I was in tears as I took the photos (having sprayed it to keep it immobile while I photographed it – sorry). It appears identical to a Weta that you have posted, except that this one has very large wings! Isn’t a “winged Weta” a contradiction in terms? Hope you can help to identify this lovely animal. She was beautiful. Note: It was found on the fringe of the arid lands in South Australia (300 Kilometres North of Adelaide).
Les Clayton
Hi Les,
We hope your tears are an indication that you will not be killing creatures in the future just to photograph them. This is not a Weta. The long ovipositor indicates the specimen is a female. It is a longhorned Orthopteran in the suborder Ensifera, and probably a Katydid in the family Tettigoniidae, but we have not had any luck identifying the species. The Geocities site did not provide any convincing matches. It appears as though the antennae on your specimen have been damaged, either through rough living, or traumatic dying, or possibly post mortem. Grev and Trevor frequently assist us with Australian species, and they may have better luck than we have had with a species identification on this striking specimen.
Update: (07/03/2008) Katydid IDs from Piotr Naskrecki
Hi,
I have been looking at the page with unidentified katydids (Katydids 2), and thought I could help with some ID’s. From top to bottom they are: Australian Raspy cricket (not a katydid but a member of Gryllacrididae) possibly Ametrus sp.
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