What is it? (Comments)

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What is it?

Status: Scary creature

I was working in my backyard this weekend, when I turned over a rock and discovered this creepy-crawly. Anyone have an idea what it is? I wasn't about to mess with it. Looked like it had a stinger on its tail.

Update: Thanks to Robin Bobcat for identifying it as a Jerusalem Cricket. According to the San Diego Natural History Museum: "this nocturnal cricket is actually non-aggressive and possesses no poison glands, although its jaws can inflict a painful bite." Even if it's non-poisonous, I'm glad I stayed away from it. And it's still out there in my backyard somewhere.

Posted By: Alex | Date: Sun Jun 29, 2008 | Permalink | Total Comments: 22
Category: Animals, Science

Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.

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I think that it's a type of cricket.

Posted by Tony in Indiana on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 04:24 PM

THAT is a Jerusalem Cricket. Totally harmless, but big and scary lookin', ain't they?

They're considered pure gold for high school biology students out working on a bug case.

Posted by Robin Bobcat in Californian Wierdo on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 04:26 PM

If you were in New Zealand, I'd suggest it was some form of Weta - but I'd have to say it's something similar in the Cricket-style family...

Posted by Goofycabal in New Zealand on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 04:28 PM

Robin beat me to the punch: it's a Jerusalem Cricket. They don't sting, but their bite hurts, so don't go poking at them. Don't hurt them, though. They eat decaying matter and help break it down into better soil. One tends to find them (as you did) under rocks and stacked wood, in piles of leaves and compost, and pretty much anywhere cool, dark, and damp with rotting stuff handy.

Posted by Fnord in NorCal on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 05:13 PM

even knowing what it is now, doesn't make it any the less strange of a critter,

Posted by Diogenes on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 06:47 PM

This is completely not normal, but that scares the mess out of me!

Posted by JT in Not Jerusalem on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 08:10 PM

And one more thing: if you saw a "stinger" in its tail, then the cricket is a female. Stingers are just a modified form of the oviposter (egg laying organ, common to insects), so only females have them. In the case of your cricket, what you saw was her oviposter (as crickets do not have stingers and are not venomous like bees and wasps.)

Posted by Andy in Brooklyn on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 10:08 PM

What Andy is trying to say, is stop looking at the lady's naughty bits, you perv.

Posted by Robin Bobcat in Californian Wierdo on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 10:48 PM

Looks sorta like a Zanti Misfit to me.

Posted by Blondin on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 06:45 AM

I've always known them as Potato Bugs. These are the only insects that actually make me cringe! They terrified me as a child.

Posted by DC in Los Angeles, CA on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 10:36 AM

Can I have it?
Some of my fish would love to eat that thing.

Posted by Big Gary in Hormiga, Texas on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 04:55 PM

Aw, it's so cute.

Posted by Sakano in Ohio on Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 01:59 PM

I agree with Sakano. I have always thought they are one of the cutest looking of all bugs...but I have never had the guts to pick one up. I especially like their eyes.

Posted by Friend of Crickets in Oregon on Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 08:26 PM

I saw one of those about 9 years ago when I lived in Pomona. Its identity had been haunting me until today! Well, I'm sure glad to know that it wasn't an underground elf, or some sort of tiny alien plotting to take over the world. Thanks for solving the mystery.

Posted by Roland in California on Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 03:20 PM

I'm sure glad DC in Los Angeles called it a Potato Bug because when I was a child (in L.A.!), my mother told us that's what this creature was. We didn't get near enough to let it bite so I wouldn't know about the pain.

Posted by Marjorie in El Paso, TX on Sat Jul 05, 2008 at 10:35 AM

Wow that thing is quite scary! When i moved from the city out to the woods, I experienced a year or two of new insect discoveries, most of them terrifying (giant hairy spiders that give a little resistance as you step on them).

Posted by dave on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 04:20 PM

That cricket is cute compared to a mole cricket I once found years ago in MS. That cricket was so ugly that my mom refused to let me bring it in the house. I told her there was no way that big ugly bug could escape the tiny holes I punched in a jar's lid. She was so freaked she demanded I take it to school the next day and give it to my science teacher. My teacher said it were rare and was glad to get it. LOL

Since moving to NM, I have heard all kind of (bad) stories about this bug. Despite what the locals say, I really don't think it looks like a human fetus. :(

Posted by Thebes in Albuquerque on Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 11:28 AM

I looked up the mole cricket too, and I actually think it's also cute. I mean, I probably wouldn't enjoy seeing one in person. But I love it's little digging "claws."

Posted by Sakano in Ohio on Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 11:34 AM

Oh God! I wonder if mole crickets bite too! Gee, ignorance is bliss... LOL

Posted by Thebes in Albuquerque on Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 11:57 AM

In Mexico this animal is named Cara de Niño (children face) and live under ground.

Posted by Titti in MX on Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 06:25 PM

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