While digging in my yard today, I found a large insect. Can anyone
help me figure out what it is? I've been surfing Google trying to
find an ID guide, but have come up empty so far.

I took some digital photos of it and posted them he

http://www.geocities.com/yowza217/BugPage.html

It's large - about two inches as you can see in the photo that has my
finger to show the comparative size. Appears to be segmented, and has
no wings. Brown all over the belly side, brown head and middle and
legs but black striped bottom on the backside. Large pincers on the
mouth.

I don't know whether this is a pest or a beneficial insect, and this
is the second one I've seen. First was dead under the car in the
driveway.

Help appreciated.

I cannot see the photo (it will not load) but from your description I am
guessing a Mole Cricket. And no they are not beneficial, they can be
controlled with Diazinon, but read the label.

--
Sam
Coastal SC
What we know is far less than what we don't know
"Always Curious" wrote in message
om...
While digging in my yard today, I found a large insect. Can anyone
help me figure out what it is? I've been surfing Google trying to
find an ID guide, but have come up empty so far.

I took some digital photos of it and posted them he

http://www.geocities.com/yowza217/BugPage.html

It's large - about two inches as you can see in the photo that has my
finger to show the comparative size. Appears to be segmented, and has
no wings. Brown all over the belly side, brown head and middle and
legs but black striped bottom on the backside. Large pincers on the
mouth.

I don't know whether this is a pest or a beneficial insect, and this
is the second one I've seen. First was dead under the car in the
driveway.

Help appreciated.


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.394 / Virus Database: 224 - Release Date: 10/3/02

In article
,
says...
While digging in my yard today, I found a large insect. Can anyone
help me figure out what it is? I've been surfing Google trying to
find an ID guide, but have come up empty so far.

I took some digital photos of it and posted them he

http://www.geocities.com/yowza217/BugPage.html

It's large - about two inches as you can see in the photo that has my
finger to show the comparative size. Appears to be segmented, and has
no wings. Brown all over the belly side, brown head and middle and
legs but black striped bottom on the backside. Large pincers on the
mouth.

I don't know whether this is a pest or a beneficial insect, and this
is the second one I've seen. First was dead under the car in the
driveway.

Help appreciated.

Look up Jerusalem Cricket for info. Rarely it is
considered a pest to commercial potato fields so I
wouldn't worry about it being a pest, they can bite
though.

--

Red meat won't hurt ya....
it's the blue-green meat that hurts ya!

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

In article ,
(Always Curious) wrote:

While digging in my yard today, I found a large insect. Can anyone
help me figure out what it is? I've been surfing Google trying to
find an ID guide, but have come up empty so far.

I took some digital photos of it and posted them he

http://www.geocities.com/yowza217/BugPage.html

It's large - about two inches as you can see in the photo that has my
finger to show the comparative size. Appears to be segmented, and has
no wings. Brown all over the belly side, brown head and middle and
legs but black striped bottom on the backside. Large pincers on the
mouth.

I don't know whether this is a pest or a beneficial insect, and this
is the second one I've seen. First was dead under the car in the
driveway.

Help appreciated.

I wouldn't worry about seeing only one or two jerusalem crickets aka
"potato bugs" in the garden (there are also beetles called potato-bug, &
kids sometimes call rollypolly type of wood louse a potato-bug because of
its shape when not rolled). They're common all along the west coast but
because subterranean & nocturnal, only rarely encountered, & gardens
aren't their first choice of habitat. They're no more harmful to a garden
than are smaller less strange looking sorts of crickets -- meaning any
cricket MIGHT damage a garden if their population explodes (usually do to
inorganic & unbalanced gardening practices) but crickets generally aren't
significant garden chompers.

They don't bite unless you try awfully hard to get bitten by it & they
make good terrarium pets. In an ant-farm sort of set-up, a mixture of loam
with moistened leaf-mold & sphagnum makes a good medium for them to burrow
in. They can be fed little pieces of potato, white-worms, decomposing
leaves, wood louses, & lettuce. They breed easily, but any full grown
female is likely already with eggs, & will dig a nest at an end of a
tunnel to lay the eggs in. The newly hatched hatchlings make good tropical
fish food; half-grown & adult they are excellent for pet frogs &
salamanders.

Some people regard the jerusalem cricket as a human delicacy superior
(because of its size) to the common brown cricket, & even a replacement
for cocktail baby shrimp. Being vegetarian myself, it has been a couple
decades since I tried any insects or crustaceans either one.

-paghat

--
"Flowers are commonly badly designed, inartistic in
color, & ill-smelling." -Ambrose Bierce
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl:
http://www.angelfire.com/grrl/paghat...nhome.html#top

Thanks Sam.

I've now Googled for "Mole Cricket" and the bug I found doesn't look
like any on the sites I've seen. I'm going to try to email you a
photo directly from my regular personal email account (this Yahoo
address is a spamdump). Look for a message titled "Bug ID" and you'll
know it's me.

Thanks for the help. You sound like you know your entomology!

By the way, for anyone else reading this, I'm located in Los Angeles,
in case this type of insect is more of a regional critter.





"sam crowe" wrote in message ...
I cannot see the photo (it will not load) but from your description I am
guessing a Mole Cricket. And no they are not beneficial, they can be
controlled with Diazinon, but read the label.

--
Sam
Coastal SC
What we know is far less than what we don't know
"Always Curious" wrote in message
om...
While digging in my yard today, I found a large insect. Can anyone
help me figure out what it is? I've been surfing Google trying to
find an ID guide, but have come up empty so far.

I took some digital photos of it and posted them he

http://www.geocities.com/yowza217/BugPage.html

It's large - about two inches as you can see in the photo that has my
finger to show the comparative size. Appears to be segmented, and has
no wings. Brown all over the belly side, brown head and middle and
legs but black striped bottom on the backside. Large pincers on the
mouth.

I don't know whether this is a pest or a beneficial insect, and this
is the second one I've seen. First was dead under the car in the
driveway.

Help appreciated.


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.394 / Virus Database: 224 - Release Date: 10/3/02

In article
,
says...

http://www.kaweahoaks.com/html/jerusalem_cricket.html

http://biology.fullerton.edu/orgs/bb...hropods/hexapo
da/orthopteroids/stenopelmatus.html

http://troyb.com/photo/gallery/041-13-
JerusalemCricket.htm

--

Red meat won't hurt ya....
it's the blue-green meat that hurts ya!

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

Looks like a cicada before it molts into one of them noisy things.

sam crowe wrote:

I cannot see the photo (it will not load) but from your description I am
guessing a Mole Cricket. And no they are not beneficial, they can be
controlled with Diazinon, but read the label.

Pesticide risks should always be weighed against any real or imagined
pest "damages." The great majority of the time, you'll decide against
chemical intervention -- and save yourself money, as well.

It's not a "mole" cricket, but a "Jerusalem" cricket, genus Stenopelmatus.

It looks nothing like a cicada nymph!!

On 8/12/02 21:47, in article
, "Always Curious"
wrote:

Thanks Sam.

I've now Googled for "Mole Cricket" and the bug I found doesn't look
like any on the sites I've seen. I'm going to try to email you a
photo directly from my regular personal email account (this Yahoo
address is a spamdump). Look for a message titled "Bug ID" and you'll
know it's me.

Thanks for the help. You sound like you know your entomology!

By the way, for anyone else reading this, I'm located in Los Angeles,
in case this type of insect is more of a regional critter.





"sam crowe" wrote in message
...
I cannot see the photo (it will not load) but from your description I am
guessing a Mole Cricket. And no they are not beneficial, they can be
controlled with Diazinon, but read the label.

--
Sam
Coastal SC
What we know is far less than what we don't know
"Always Curious" wrote in message
om...
While digging in my yard today, I found a large insect. Can anyone
help me figure out what it is? I've been surfing Google trying to
find an ID guide, but have come up empty so far.

I took some digital photos of it and posted them he

http://www.geocities.com/yowza217/BugPage.html

It's large - about two inches as you can see in the photo that has my
finger to show the comparative size. Appears to be segmented, and has
no wings. Brown all over the belly side, brown head and middle and
legs but black striped bottom on the backside. Large pincers on the
mouth.

I don't know whether this is a pest or a beneficial insect, and this
is the second one I've seen. First was dead under the car in the
driveway.

Help appreciated.


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.394 / Virus Database: 224 - Release Date: 10/3/02

--
John H. Epler, Ph.D.
Aquatic Entomologist
Mysterious Waters, just south of Wakulla Springs in north Florida
Interested in chironomid midges or water beetles?
Please check out my site at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~johnepler/index.html

sam crowe wrote:

I cannot see the photo (it will not load) but from your description I am
guessing a Mole Cricket. And no they are not beneficial, they can be
controlled with Diazinon, but read the label.

Diazinon is now restricted from residential use. It is rather irresponsibile
to recommend a highly toxic (and restricted) pesticide when you cannot
confirm a diagnosis as to the problem in question, if there even is one.

pam - gardengal

(Always Curious) wrote:

Thanks Sam.

I've now Googled for "Mole Cricket" and the bug I found doesn't look
like any on the sites I've seen. I'm going to try to email you a
photo directly from my regular personal email account (this Yahoo
address is a spamdump). Look for a message titled "Bug ID" and you'll
know it's me.

Thanks for the help. You sound like you know your entomology!

By the way, for anyone else reading this, I'm located in Los Angeles,
in case this type of insect is more of a regional critter.

Jerusalem cricket ... usually kept under control by lizards and
spiders, unless you have exterminated all the bugs by misguidedly
trying to kill "bad bugs" with large quantities of insecticides
and have neither lizards nor spiders.

Ugly little things, aren't they?
Tsu Dho Nimh

--
Your personal opinion is your prerogative. However, without
substantive evidence, it is nothing more than an opinion.

Thanks to all who responded. This critter is indeed a Jerusalem
Cricket, as it is definitely what is seen in the links you have
provided.

It sure is a creepy looking, and very LARGE bug, but as it seems to
pose no risk to my person or my plants, I plan to do nothing but leave
it in peace. I'm not inclined to keep it in my terrarium, nor take
special steps to feed it any of the suggested snacks. I'm not
generally squeamish, but this fella hit a button.

I don't use any pesticides, and the folks that I bought the house from
didn't either, but I haven't seen much in the way of lizards either.
I think the neighbor's cats have done that deed.

I can see why this bug likes my yard. I have a lot of tube roots from
some birds of paradise bushes. Those roots are probably the perfect
meal and the tunnel in which to live.

I was first worried that this was some termite queen or some such that
indicated possible infestation. I breathe a sigh of relief...