Flying and crwling bug – Namibia
Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 12:49 PM
Hi bugman. Found this bug in my livingroom, it flyies towards light, like a moth, makes no sounds, shell very hard. What is it?
Claudia
Windhoek City, Namibia, Africa
Hi Claudia,
It is interesting that a disproportionate number of recent letters have been from Namibia. This is a Mole Cricket and though we are uncertain about the specifics of your individual, we can tell you that Mole Crickets are found in many places in the world in addition to Namibia. We get numerous identification requests from Iraq and Afghanistan and have also gotten many submissions from the U.S. and Australia. Mole Crickets are subterranean dwellers and many species also fly quite well.
Update: Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 8:18 AM
Hi Daniel:
The ‘Namibian Biodiversity Database’ lists only one mole cricket (family Gryllotalpidae) for Namibia, the African Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa africana). The taxonomy for this large genus is somewhat confusing and depending on the source G. africana is either limited to Africa or widespread throughout south and east Asia as well. The recent trend has been to limit G. africana to Africa, while assigning other species designations to the Asian varieties on the basis of song differences. It is considered a pest species, causing damage to a wide variety of root and cereal crops. Regards.
Karl
Link: http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/insects/orthoptera/gryllotalpidae
Update: Namibian Insect Website Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Link to our site
Hello thought you would like to link to our Bug site in Namibia.
Regards Alan Hendry
http://gallery.me.com/imediadvd#100184
iMedia
Namibia
Dear Alan,
Thanks for your site link, but we are unable to view it as we do not have a modern enough operating system to support the browsers your site require. We had a spate of submissions from Namibia in the recent past, and we are posting your comment with a Mole Cricket letter from early February 2009.