Subject: RE: Bugs!
Nice shots!
This totally NOT (
) ooky specimen is a female mormon cricket, Anabrus simplex. Not a whole lot is known about them. However, in very high densities (documented in several places in the northwestern states and Canada), these things can become a serious agricultural pest (and even a safety hazard on roads). There are a variety of colour morphs (seemingly triggered by population density) including black, brown and green and I have even seen red and purple. Solitary individuals are almost always green or purple, but in big numbers (swarm years) they are usually black or brown. That giant “stinger” on the back end is actually her ovipositor - harmless. They are wingless, heavily armored and slow walkers-capable of traveling up to two km in a day.Anyway, thanks for sending the pics!
Tyler
Tyler Cobb, PhD
Curator, Invertebrate Zoology
Director, Processing Centre, Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
Royal Alberta Museum
12845 - 102nd Ave
Edmonton, AB, CANADA
T5N 0M6
Ph (780) 453-9197
Fx (780) 454-6629
http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca
http://www.abmi.ca
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