Jerusalem cricket
The Jerusalem cricket is a big, chunky insect with no wings and a large round head. It is not a true cricket, but a cousin. It cannot hear sounds at all, so it talks to other Jerusalem crickets by drumming its tummy on the ground.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Each kind of Jerusalem cricket has its own drum song, which it beats out with its belly.
It has no ears. It feels vibrations in the ground with all six of its legs instead.
To scare enemies, some kinds rub their back legs against their sides to make a rasping, hissing sound.
In one Mexican kind, the females have bigger heads and jaws than the males.
There are 19 known kinds in this group.
Most asked questions about Jerusalem cricket
?Is the Jerusalem cricket dangerous?
No, but its strong jaws can give a painful nip. It is best to just look and not pick it up.
?Can Jerusalem crickets fly?
No. They have no wings at all.
?How do Jerusalem crickets talk to each other?
They drum their belly on the ground and feel the vibrations through their legs.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Stenopelmatus
- Group
- Grasshoppers and crickets
- Family
- Stenopelmatidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Orthoptera > Stenopelmatidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Potato bug
Where the facts come from
- Stenopelmatus (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 Jalil Rodríguez. CC BY 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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