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Species Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa - European Mole Cricket

Representative Images

Earwig Type? - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Big Bug - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa - female Any ideas? - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa - male unknown specimen - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Strangest bug I've ever seen - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Unknown Monster - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Northern Mole Cricket - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids)
Suborder Ensifera (Long-horned Orthoptera)
Infraorder Gryllidea (Crickets)
Family Gryllotalpidae (Mole Crickets)
Genus Gryllotalpa
Species gryllotalpa (European Mole Cricket)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa (Linnaeus 1758)

Explanation of Names

gryll - cricket
talpa - mole

Size

36-46 mm

Identification

Brown, covered with velvety hair. Front legs modified for digging. Females lack the external ovipositor of other crickets.

Range

Europe; in the U.S. recorded roughly from Massachusetts to New York & eastern New Jersey, and also from Belle Glade, Florida. Many of these records seem to represent populations that have not persisted to today.

Currently known to be well established only in Westchester Co., NY, and adjacent CT.

Food

This cricket feeds at night by tunneling the upper 1-2" of the soil; feeding on seedlings, roots and stems cutting them off above the ground, also eats the seeds. (1)

Life Cycle

Eggs are laid in underground chambers.

Remarks

Introduced from Europe. It reached pest proportions in the 1910s

Internet References

University of Florida
Encyclopedia of Life
Wikipedia

Works Cited

1.Eastern Forest Insects
Whiteford L. Baker. 1972. U.S. Department of Agriculture · Forest Service.
Contributed by David J. Ferguson on 30 July, 2010 - 8:59am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, metrioptera, Marci Hess
Last updated 13 July, 2023 - 9:04am

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