desert camel cricket - Daihinibaenetes

This may actually be Daihinibaenetes giganteus

I need to research the literature a bit more though. There is apparently doubt that the three described "species" of Daihinibaenetes are really distinct, but I don't know if they have been officially combined into one. D. arizonensis was described from near Petrified Forest in Arizona; D. giganteus from Great Sand Dunes in Colorado; D. tanneri from near Delta, Utah. Specimens from Glenn Canyon City, Kane County have been called D. giganteus. An Ammobaenetes was mentioned in passing from near Petrified Forest by Tinkham, when he described D. arizonensis, but it was apparently never mentioned again. This leaves a bit of uncertainty about which name should go on insects from Coral Pink Dunes. I'd have to examine the specimen to see which "species" it fits best. Ammobaenetes differ from Daihinibaenetes in having only three (instead of four) segments in the hind tarsi, otherwise they look pretty much the same.

It seems fairly certain, based on published records, that this will be in Daihinibaenetes instead of Ammobaenetes; so (at the risk of being wrong); I'm going to go ahead and move her to that genus.

Moved from Ammobaenetes.

… David J. Ferguson, 26 January, 2012 - 4:21am

Your reasoning is sound, but

Your reasoning is sound, but the ovipositor of Daihinibaenetes is much shorter than that of Ammobaenetes, about the length of the pronotum. Looking at specimens in front of me, it is a pretty obvious difference, which makes me think that these crickets really do belong in Ammobaenetes, and may represent an undescribed species.

… Ryan Shofner, 28 March, 2013 - 2:07pm

Delayed response here - I'm not sure yet, you may be correct

I don't know them well enough to be confident in telling them apart on sight. Seeing the under side of the hind femur would help (spines vs. no spines). The ovipositor trait characters used in (?) the most recent identification key for these genera are given as approximately half the length of the body or twice the pronotum versus approximately the length of the pronotum. [In an older key by the same author, the lengths given are not the same.] This one doesn't fit well with either of those options. However, the structure of the ovipositor may tell something too. I'm also wondering if this one is even adult (it looks adult, but perhaps not?), which could totally change the ratio of ovipositor to body length and the arrangement of spines on ovipositor and legs.
Also, for what it's worth (perhaps not much), to me this one looks like Daihinibaenetes and not Ammobaenetes; the body shape and color patterns seem to be different in the two genera. I'll hold off moving her for now, but I suspect that more than one posting of "Sand Treader" is misplaced on BugGuide at present, and this one and others may be moved in the near future. I want to be more sure of myself before I make any more changes though.

There is a key to genera here.
An older, slightly contradictory version is here

… David J. Ferguson, 28 August, 2015 - 4:29pm

Moved

Moved from Camel Crickets.

… David J. Ferguson, 26 September, 2010 - 11:17pm

Yes.

Wish I could narrow it down further....You might try contacting Dr. David Lightfoot at U of New Mexico, he's an authority on Orthoptera.

… Eric R. Eaton, 4 December, 2008 - 11:37am