Found this scary looking guy next to my front door
Location: Los Angeles, CA
December 6, 2010 10:02 pm
I found this insect next to my front door. It is about an inch/ inch and a half long and about 3/4 inch in diameter! I have never seen anything like it before and I was a child that always looked at bugs. Please help.
Thanks!
Signature: Jazz
Dear Jazz,
You have had the good fortune to encounter a Potato Bug or Jerusalem Cricket in the family Stenopelmatidae and the genus Stenopelmatus. The Potato Bug represents one of our Top 10 identification requests. This family is found in the western portion of North America, primarily in the arid Southwest. You can read about it on BugGuide and there is much information about Potato Bugs online in other places. Potato Bugs are subterranean dwellers that are often sighted just after a heavy rain, and the Southern California deluge that began Sunday night resulted in at least three identification requests in our inbox. Of the three, you had the best photo.
Yes if you grew up and were born and raised in Los Angeles you would know these they were much more common in the late 70s early 80s my family and I used to see them all the time. They look so scary but however move sooo slow