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Kelly’s Field Notes

Common Name: Mole Cricket

Order: Orthoptera

Family: Gryllotalpidae

Species of Note Near You (There are over 100 species of mole cricket! Three are native to North America.):

• Northern mole cricket (Neocurtilla hexadactyla) - widespread in the eastern and central United States, if you’ve seen a mole cricket it’s probably this species.

• European mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa) - widespread throughout Europe, introduced to the U.S. from nursery stock from Holland and Belgium about 1913.

• Oriental mole cricket (Gryllotalpa orientalis) - widespread throughout Asia, introduced to Hawaii sometimes before 1896.

• Neoscapteriscus didactylus (Neoscapteriscus didactylus) - native to southern South American, introduced to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands around 1900.

• African mole cricket (Gryllotalpa africana) - native to Africa, introduced to Australia during the 1800’s.

• Gryllotalpa pluvialis - found mostly on the east coast of Australia, an Aussie native.

• Western mole cricket (Gryllotalpa cultriger) - mainly found in Mexico.

Description: 

Mole crickets are fairly large! Some species of male are around 5 cm (2 in) in length and females can get even bigger at 7 cm (2.8 in). They are dark brown on the topside of their bodies (dorsal) and a light yellow or cream color on their underside (ventral). While they have a pair of wings, in some species the hind wings are too short to use for flight. Their front legs are used for digging, resembling toothed shovels. You can distinguish between species by the number and shape of their dactyls (the toothed parts of the limb). Their hind legs look like a more traditional cricket’s but they are mainly used to push soil and dig - mole crickets are very poor jumpers.

Mole crickets live nearly their entire lives underground. They create a series of tunnels for movement and feeding and escaping predators. Males enlarge the opening of their tunnels into horn-shapes in the evening, to amplify their courtship song. Females may steal that burrow after mating.

Because they burrow in the upper part of the soil, they tend to cause a lot of havoc for plants trying to germinate or remain moist. They cause ridges above their tunnels which can dry out soils and harm roots. 

Life Cycle: 

Our friends the mole crickets undergo incomplete metamorphosis: egg, nymph, adult. They begin life as an egg, with 25-100 of their siblings, buried in the soil, hatching in a few weeks (10 to 40 days). Depending on the species, the mother will either leave the eggs or stay in an adjacent chamber to tend to them. Also species dependent, the mother may lay more clutches over a period of several months. The eggs start out looking like dried beans, but grow and smooth as they absorb water. If the mother does not lay them in a moist enough environment they will not hatch.

Once the eggs hatch, it will take nymphal mole crickets a few months to reach adulthood. Depending on species, mole crickets are either herbivores, omnivores, or predacious. The Southern mole cricket (Neoscapteriscus borellii) is a well known predatory species. Nymphs tunnel just like their parents! They come to the surface in the evenings to hunt or forage. Mole crickets go through 5 instars, which may take 7 to 10 molting events to get through before becoming adults.

Mole crickets can overwinter as nymphs or adults.

Super Powers:

• Digging - mole crickets are excellent diggers!

• Singing - mole crickets communicate by rubbing their wings together (stridulation), which vibrates the harp areas of both wings.

• Loud - you can hear the song of a mole cricket over half a mile away (0.8 km)! The loudest recorded song was over 90 decibels.

• Flight - most species of mole crickets fly (in the evening), with some recorded traveling as far as 8 km (5 mi).

• Buoyant - mole crickets are covered in a thick layer of setae, so if they fall into water they will float and can paddle their way back to dry land. Some of their spread was likely through ship ballast.

Mole Crickets in Culture:

• The herbivores and omnivores are often considered pests on golf courses and other places with turf grass. They have also been pests in areas where sugarcane is grown. Invasive mole crickets have been of particular issue in the U.S., Australia, South America, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. 

• Biological controls have been used to mitigate their damage via parasitoid wasps and flies and parasitic nematodes.

• In Zambia mole crickets are considered bringers of good fortune!

• In Japan, people of the Koshin faith see mole crickets as the announcers of one’s sins to Heaven.

• In parts of Central and South America it is believed that mole crickets bring rain.

• Mole crickets are a common source of snack food in Thailand and Vietnam.

References:

Bennet-Clark, H. C. "The mechanism and efficiency of sound production in mole crickets." Journal of Experimental Biology 52.3 (1970): 619-652.

“European Mole Cricket.” Ufl.edu, 2024, entnemdept.ufl.edu/molecrickets/mcri003c.htm. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.

“Meet the Mole Cricket – the Platypus of the Insect World.” Australian Geographic, 21 Oct. 2018, www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-blog/2018/10/meet-the-mole-cricket-the-platypus-of-the-insect-world/.

“Mole Crickets - Neoscapteriscus Spp.” Entnemdept.ufl.edu, entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/turf/pest_mole_crickets.htm.

‌“Names, Origins, and Distribution of Mole Crickets.” Entnemdept.ufl.edu, entnemdept.ufl.edu/molecrickets/MCRI0200.HTM.

"northern mole cricket (Neocurtilla hexactyla)." SINA. 2024. Singing Insects of North America [https://orthsoc.org/sina/351a.htm]. 

“Oriental Mole Cricket.” Ufl.edu, 2024, entnemdept.ufl.edu/molecrickets/mcri003d.htm. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.

“Southern Mole Cricket.” Ufl.edu, 2024, entnemdept.ufl.edu/molecrickets/mcri003e.htm. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.