Oriental mole cricket
The oriental mole cricket is a plump, yellowish brown cricket that lives underground like a mole. Its front legs are shaped like little shovels for digging. It builds a whole network of tunnels in damp soil.
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Fun facts
The mother lays about 200 eggs in a nest chamber deep in the soil and guards her babies for the first weeks.
In winter it digs down about 1 metre deep to stay safe from the cold.
In the evening it comes out and flies, and it is drawn to lights.
In flooded rice fields it can even swim between the plants.
In Hawaii, people brought in a special wasp to keep the mole crickets in check, and it worked.
Most asked questions about Oriental mole cricket
?Why is it called a mole cricket?
Because it digs tunnels underground like a mole, using its shovel-like front legs.
?What does the oriental mole cricket eat?
Roots, tubers and other underground plant parts, and also insects and earthworms.
?Can mole crickets fly?
Yes. They come out in the evening and at night and fly, often towards lights.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Gryllotalpa orientalis
- Group
- Grasshoppers and crickets
- Family
- Gryllotalpidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Orthoptera > Gryllotalpidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Gryllotalpa orientalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by ่พป็ . CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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