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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids (Orthoptera) » Long-horned Orthoptera (Ensifera) » Crickets (Gryllidea) » Mole Crickets (Gryllotalpidae) » Gryllotalpa » European Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa)

Species Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa - European Mole Cricket

Earwig Type? - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Any ideas? - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa - male unknown specimen - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Huge mole-like insect in the mud. Some kind of larvae? - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Huge mole-like insect in the mud. Some kind of larvae? - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Unknown Monster - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa 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.
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
Contributed by David J. Ferguson on 30 July, 2010 - 8:59am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, metrioptera
Last updated 5 September, 2019 - 12:42am

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