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Sticker of Japanese burrowing cricket
Bug card No. 2385 of 4,939

Japanese burrowing cricket

Velarifictorus micado
Eats: A bit of everythingGrasshoppers and cricketsGardens and meadows6 legs

The Japanese burrowing cricket is a cricket that digs little burrows in the ground. It comes from Asia, but it now also lives in the United States. It is a quiet and peaceful insect that does not damage gardens.

Lives in
Asia, and now the eastern half of the United States
Top speed
about 3 km/h (1.9 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting people, so you can watch it up close.
What does it eat?
Like most crickets, it nibbles plants and small bits of food it finds on the ground.
For real!Photo of Japanese burrowing cricket
Picture by Sam Droege. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It was first found in the United States in 1959. It probably travelled there as eggs in the soil of plant pots.

2

Since then it has spread across the whole eastern half of the country.

3

It keeps moving further north, so it may spread even more than people thought.

you asked

Most asked questions about Japanese burrowing cricket

?Is the Japanese burrowing cricket a pest?

Not really. It is thought to be quiet and not to damage crops or gardens.

?How did the Japanese burrowing cricket get to America?

Probably as eggs hidden in the soil of plants brought from Asia.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Velarifictorus micado
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Gryllidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Gryllidae
Lives on
Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Velarifictorus micado (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Sam Droege. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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