A ground cricket

I’ll follow up the other day’s picture of a strange and dark flower in its normal state with this photograph of a dark cricket, which I didn’t think was in its normal state. I asked entomologist Mike Quinn, who identified the insect as being in the subfamily of Gryllidae (true crickets) designated Nemobiinae, whose members are called ground crickets. Mike also assured me that although I thought the cricket’s back was burned or malformed, it’s actually normal. I didn’t ask about the “tail” on this insect, but I’ve read in online articles that a female cricket has a long ovipositor* (i.e. egg depositor) at the rear of her body, and that seems to be what this picture shows. Live and learn.

——–

* In a post back in February I reported on an insect with a different-looking ovipositor.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman