Moved from Pristoceuthophilus.

This is the common camel cricket in Victoria (and much of southern and western BC). The five smooth bumps on the male's dorsal abdomen are diagnostic.

I read in a local paper one of these camel crickets actually bit a woman, causing death, in Point Pleasant West Virginia....everything I've read about them says they do not bite and are harmless just scary looking, but there is not much information on them...is it possible they do bite?

was in Big Bend last week, 4500 elevation, rocky desert area, say something close to this, but had a green band around neck area and a flat round top with rattle snake rattler looking tail, my photo came out poor, can anyone help me on this one?

See third picture in support of Eric's comments.

Thank you for the clarification Eric. I did in fact read that Pristoceuthophilus is a common genus in British Columbia, but could not find any description of the features you have mentioned. I will look more closely into it and examine some additional pictures that I took.

I am quite sure this is actually a male Pristoceuthophilus sp. That genus replaces Ceuthophilus west of the Cascade mountains. Plus, the males tend to have the "kink" in the hind tibia, usually even more pronounced than in this specimen. There is also often a large tooth on the underside of the hind femur, barely visible in this image, near the distal end. Nice find! Folks in Oregon, Washington, and California should look for more specimens.