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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids (Orthoptera) » Long-horned Orthoptera (Ensifera) » Crickets (Gryllidea) » Ant Crickets (Myrmecophilidae) » Myrmecophilus » Eastern Ant Cricket (Myrmecophilus pergandei)
Photo#305693
Piggy Cricket - Myrmecophilus pergandei - male
Copyright © 2009 Ashley Bradford

Piggy Cricket - Myrmecophilus pergandei - Male
Alexandria, Fairfax County, Virginia, USA
July 16, 2009
Size: ~ 3-4 mm
What the heck is this thing?? I've never seen anything like it! It was tiny and moving constantly, so I'm posting two out of the only three shots I got of it, even though they didn't come out so great.

Images of this individual: tag all
Piggy Cricket - Myrmecophilus pergandei - male Piggy Cricket - Myrmecophilus pergandei - male
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Contributed by Ashley Bradford on 17 July, 2009 - 3:14pm
Last updated 12 December, 2010 - 2:34pm

Moved
Moved from Myrmecophilus.
… David J. Ferguson, 12 December, 2010 - 2:34pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Ashley Bradford, 17 July, 2009 - 9:54pm login or register to post comments

not just with Camponotus
First, nice pictures of this speeedy little cricket!

The North American Myrmecophila are actually not very specific in their host ant choice. I find them with Formica species (another Formicinae) and sometimes with the distantly related Crematogaster (Myrmicinae). In the west, I have found them with still another myrmicine, harvester ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex. An introduced species in this cricket genus, M. flavocincta, is apparently only found with the introduced tropical and subtropical urban ant Paratrechina longicornis (crazy ant).

In the Asian tropics there have recently been described a number of arboreal species that live with tree-inhabiting ants.
… James C. Trager, 17 July, 2009 - 3:52pm login or register to post comments

 
Wow!
What is their interaction with ants?
… Ashley Bradford, 17 July, 2009 - 3:56pm login or register to post comments

 
It's an inquiline.
Definition here. You have captured an image of a rarely seen creature.
… Domingo Zungri, 17 July, 2009 - 4:39pm login or register to post comments

 
Ah, so they don't
hurt the ants. Thanks for the information - very exciting! I hope I see another, but it sounds like I may not.
… Ashley Bradford, 17 July, 2009 - 4:57pm login or register to post comments

Very exciting!
This is an adult "ant cricket" in the genus Myrmecophila! Great find. Normally associated with carpenter ants, so seldom seen unless you habitually turn over logs and rocks:-)
… Eric R. Eaton, 17 July, 2009 - 3:17pm login or register to post comments

 
You're fast! =)
That's really cool! There was a large carpenter ant or two just hanging out around my patio door last night, and there is often one somewhere, almost every night, just hanging out, usually above the door.

This little guy wouldn't stop running and climbing and eventually disappeared into a crack where the door frame meets the threshold.
… Ashley Bradford, 17 July, 2009 - 3:29pm login or register to post comments

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