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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids (Orthoptera) » Long-horned Orthoptera (Ensifera) » Camel Crickets (Rhaphidophoridae) » Tropidischia » Tropidischia xanthostoma
Photo#71244
a REALLY BIG cricket - Tropidischia xanthostoma
Copyright © 2006 lyle killough

a REALLY BIG cricket - Tropidischia xanthostoma
Tofino, British Columbia, Canada
August 12, 2006
I'm hoping to get some help identifying a very large cricket that I
found in Tofino, British Columbia, Canada. I've gone through the
limited field guides I have, but nothing measures up.

I found this cricket lying dead on the road. The total length of the
hind leg is 74mm, the ovipositor is 10mm, the front legs are 42mm, the
antenae are 90mm, the body length is 19mm. She ranges in colour from
yellow through red-brown to dark brown, with her body being dark brown.


Is this an exotic that has made its way to the temperate rainforest
port of Tofino, or is this a home-grown west coast monster? Thanks for
the help!
tag · login or register to post comments
Contributed by lyle killough on 17 August, 2006 - 12:32pm
Last updated 5 September, 2006 - 10:36pm

Camel cricket.
This is without a doubt the largest species of camel cricket on the continent: Tropidischia xanthostoma, the "square-legged camel cricket." They are native to the Pacific states and BC, but are reclusive, usually found in caves and old wells. I understand the legspan 'rarely exceeds 8 inches!' Please add your image to the one(s) already in the guide for that species. Thank you.
… Eric R. Eaton, 17 August, 2006 - 1:13pm login or register to post comments

...
How about this one? I have found them in caves at Goldstream and elsewhere in the winter.

By the way I love Tofino. Spent a lot of time up there.
… Sean McCann, 17 August, 2006 - 1:10pm login or register to post comments

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