Gryllotalpa africana
| Gryllotalpa africana | |
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| File:Gryllotalpa africana1.jpg | |
| 'African mole cricket | |
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| Gryllotalpa africana (Palisot de Beauvois, 1805)
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African Mole Cricket is a relatively small mole cricket species, native to Africa, but local populations exist in Asia, and southern Europe.
Morphology
Body length is 25-33 mm. Body is yellow-brown, light yellow beneath. Antennae are short, filiform. Forelegs are digging type; lower part of front femur is almost straight. Pronotum is large, oblong. Forewings are reaching apex of the abdomen. Wings project from under forewings in the form of wisps. Forefemora are slightly thickened and slightly excavated from below. Upper inner part of hind tibiae bears 3-4 spines. Female is devoid of ovipositor.
Biology
The species is omnivore. The mole cricket lives underground,making burrows and feeding on plant roots, larvae, other insects. It goes to the surface only at night - mostly at a mating season. It can fly too, when changing territorry or when females are searching for males. The males are calling females by chirping. The mole crickets mate underground; then the female builds a nest in clay soil at the depth of 0.3-0.4 m and lays 220 elongate-oval eggs. Embryonic development lasts 10 to 12 or more days. Larvae pass 6 instars. Third to fifth instar larvae and adults overwinter in soil at the depth of 0.8-1.2 m. The complete cycle of development lasts 1 to 3 years depending upon climatic conditions. Natural habitats include moistened humus-enriched biotopes, such as river flood-lands and banks of ponds, as well as irrigated or well fertilized fields and vegetable gardens. This cricket is considered a pest in some regions.