Subject: Creepy camel spider look alike
Geographic location of the bug: Hesperia California
Date: 08/02/2019
Time: 09:54 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: What is it is it dangerous to me my children or pets?
How you want your letter signed: Danielle
Dear Danielle,
The Potato Bug or Jerusalem Cricket is one of our most common Southern California identification requests, but those sightings usually occur during rainy season when this subterranean dweller comes to the surface. A mid-summer sighting during dry weather is somewhat unusual. Though Potato Bugs have very powerful mandibles that could deliver a painful nip, they have neither venom nor poison, so they are harmless to you, your children and your pets. It was interesting that you compared its appearance to that of a Camel Spider, a common name for a Middle Eastern Solifugid, because we get far more requests from people who have sighted a Solifugid and compare its appearance to that of a Potato Bug.