Restless Bush Crickets?
Dear Bugpeople,
I took the enclosed picture of these very cute crickets on a potted plant along my front walk in suburban Philadelphia. I believe they are restless bush crickets, though they seemed pretty placid at the time. The big one on the left seems to be a female, while the other two seem to be males. Do you concur? Thanks for maintaining a wonderful website,
John Hufnagel in Upper Darby. PA

Hi John,
Thank you for sending in your wonderful image of correctly identified Restless Bush Crickets, Hapithus agitator, a new species for our site. There are many nice images on BugGuide as well.

large iraqi bug
My husband took this picture of a large >2.5 in insect found in a workspace in Iraq. It appears to be similar to a Jerusalem cricket. Is that what it is? If you could give me any information I could send to my husband and his coworkers (diet, lifecycle, etc), I would appreciate it. Thanks,
Camille

Hi Camille,
We get Mole Cricket inquiries from around the world, and many from Iraq. Mole Crickets live underground where they eat plant roots.

Mole cricket??? Strange critter in Iraq
Just got this note and picture from my son in Iraq. I think it’s a mole cricket. Am I right? Thanks!
Barbara

[W]hat on earth is the critter in the attachment? It’s about 2 inches long, and it was crawling around the office recently. It has 6 legs and a jointed exoskeleton. It did not jump, and it made a "crack" that was clearly audible from more than 20 feet away when I stepped – not stomped on it.

Hi Barbara,
You are correct. This is a Mole Cricket and we have gotten numerous submissions from Iraq.

Scary Hissing Bug!
Hello,
We this bug land in our swimming pool on the weekend. We weren’t able to get many good photo’s but these few have the most coverage. My partner picked it up to remove it from the pool and just before putting it down in the garden, it tried to take a chunk out of him….! Can you please help us find out what type of flying bug this is, I’ve looked on a couple of websites but can not find any pictures of it. 2 of us think it may be some kind of locust…?? It was outside in the pot plant then by the end of the night it was in the laundry, although I’m unable to locate it at the moment I’m sure he will come out of somewhere when I’m not suspecting it..! It would be greatly appreciated if you could help. Cheers,
Elle & Mark

Hi Elle and Mark,
For now, all we can tell you is that this is an Orthopteran, the order that includes grasshoppers, katydids and crickets. It is a female, as evidenced by the large spikelike ovipositor. Now comes the big question. Where are you located??????? There is a family, Anostostomatidae, of primitive insects found in New Zealand known as Weta, and there are some similarities. The hissing and aggressive posture are indicative of Weta, but Weta are wingless. This is probably some species of Long Horned Grasshopper or Katydid in the family Tettigoniidae. The last time we tried to email Eric Eaton, the communique did not go through. We will see if he has an opinion here. Here is what Eric thinks: “That is a female katydid of some kind, probably neotropical, and probably predacious, as are many katydids with strong jaws and heavy spines on the front legs.”

Hello,
Thank you so much for replying so soon. We are in Perth, Western Australia. I’ve never seen this type of bug/insect before, but he was huge..! Where do these things usually reside? as they are so big we thought we would have seen it before. He kept making a hissing sound that was loud enough to hear from about 4 foot away..! Feisty little fellow..!!! Thanking you in advance.
Elle & Mark

Hi again Elle and Mark,
Thanks for the location. Eric Eaton says a Predaceous female Katydid but does not know the species. A quick web search did not give us a conclusive answer.

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 “katydid” – not a katydid but Gryllacrididae, unknown species

Camel Cricket/Cave Cricket?
I just wanted to shoot over a few pictures of a cave/camel cricket I found in my basement. Thank you for helping me ID this guy. Is it true that he eats spiders, ants, and roaches?
Vince
Philadelphia, PA

Hi Vince,
Camel Crickets are generally thought to be scavengers rather than predators, hence they would eat dead spiders, ants and roaches.

I found this in my pool
I found this bug in my pool skimmer but I saw another just like it swimming in my pool today. When I came out with my camera it was gone. I couldn’t find one like it on your site. It’s a very good swimmer. It has 6 legs, but uses 4 of them for swimming. Does it bite? Where does it live? Should I be worried?
Brett Hufziger

Hi Brett,
This is a Mole Cricket, and its habitat does not include your swimming pool. It is a subterranean dweller that is probably leaving its burrows, perhaps because of rain, and wandering on the surface. In its surface wanderings, it and its brethren are stumbling into your pool and are unable to get out, with drowning as the ultimate outcome. Mole Crickets have chewing mouthparts and might deliver a slight nip, but we would hardly consider that a bite.