Mole Crickets - Family GRYLLOTALPIDAE
Mole Crickets have characteristic digging forelegs. Males produce songs and build burrows to amplify their love song. Their antennae are shorter than body. When dug up, they do not leap away like other burrow-inhabiting insects but dig their way back underground with powerful strokes of the forelegs. The dirt is simply forced aside. Most of them have developed wings and are capable fliers.
- Common Mole Cricket
- Gryllotalpa sp., female and male
- Length 50mm
Click here to hear calling song,
5 sec.- Mole Crickets are dark brown in colour with shiny thorax. Although their wings look small compare to their body, sometimes we find them flying around during mid-summer. Notice their strong shovel-like forelegs for digging burrows. They cannot be seen easily but we always hear the males singing loudly with continuous trilling from burrows during a wet summer dusk. They only sing for a short periods of time. They start singing when the sky turn dark and end singing when the sky is dark completely, for about 30 minutes. They do not sing when the soil is dry. The shape of their burrow is believed to help amplify the song. It is difficult to locate them by their songs even if you are within a meter from them. If you come a bit closer, they will stop singing. We have more information about Mole Cricket, please click on here.
- Mole Cricket
-
- Gryllotalpa sp., male
- Length 35mm
-
Click here to hear calling song,
5 sec.
- This Mole Cricket look similar with the Common Mole Cricket above except smaller in size. Their bodies are dull brown in colour. Their calling song is a quite different. We can hear them everywhere in a hot wet summer evening. The start calling after dark for half an hour. If we follow the sound and come close to them very carefully. We can see them making the sound just at the entrance of their burrows. We see them sometimes come out from their burrows and wandering around in our backyard. We can catch them easily if they come on to the concrete. If they are on the lawn or on the sand, they will quickly dig into the ground and disappear.
