Mole cricket
| Mole cricket Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous–recent 140–0 Ma |
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| Gryllotalpa brachyptera | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Orthoptera |
| Suborder: | Ensifera |
| Superfamily: | Grylloidea |
| Family: |
Gryllotalpidae Saussure, 1870 |
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| Distribution of Gryllotalpa, Scapteriscus, Neocurtilla | |
Mole crickets are members of the insect family Gryllotalpidae, in the order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts and crickets). Mole crickets are cylindrical-bodied insects about 3–5 centimetres (1.2–2.0 in) long, with small eyes and shovel-like forelimbs highly developed for burrowing. They are present in many parts of the world and where they have been introduced into new regions, may become agricultural pests.
Mole crickets have three life stages, eggs, nymphs and adults. Most of their life in these stages is spent underground but adults have wings and disperse in the breeding season. They vary in their diet; some species are vegetarian, mainly feeding on roots, others are omnivores, including worms and grubs in their diet, while a few are largely predacious. Male mole crickets have an exceptionally loud song; they sing from a sub-surface burrow that opens out into the air in the shape of an exponential horn. The song is an almost pure tone, modulated into chirps. It is used to attract females, either for mating, or for indicating favourable habitats for them to lay their eggs.
In Zambia, mole crickets are thought to bring good fortune, while in Latin America they are said to predict rain. In Florida, where Scapteriscus mole crickets are non-native, they are considered pests, and various biological controls have been used. Gryllotalpa species have been used as food in West Java, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Mole crickets vary in size and appearance, but most of them are of moderate size for an insect, typically between 3.2 and 3.5 cm (1.3 and 1.4 in) long as adults. They are adapted for underground life and are cylindrical in shape and covered with fine, dense hairs. The head, forelimbs, and prothorax are heavily sclerotinised but the abdomen is rather soft. The head bears two threadlike antennae and a pair of beady eyes. The two pairs of wings are folded flat over the abdomen; in most species, the fore wings are short and rounded and the hind wings are membranous and reach or exceed the tip of the abdomen; however, in some species the hind wings are reduced in size and the insect is unable to fly. The fore legs are flattened for digging but the hind legs are shaped somewhat like the legs of a true cricket; however, these limbs are more adapted for pushing soil, rather than leaping, which they do rarely and poorly. The nymphs resemble the adults apart from the absence of wings and genitalia; the wingpads become larger after each successive moult.
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Wikipedia