Gryllotalpa africana
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| 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. Forelegs are digging type. Pronotum is large, oblong. Forewings are at the lenght of about 0.5 of the abdomen. Wings project from under forewings in the form of wisps, reaching as far as the end of the abdomen. Upper inner part of hind tibiae bears 3-4 spines. Female don't have 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 soil at the depth of about 0.3 m and lays approximately 200 eggs. Embryonic development lasts 10 to 12 or more days. Nymphs pass 6-7 instars. Third to fifth instar larvae (or nymphs) and adults overwinter in soil at the depth of 0.8-1.2 m. The complete life cycle lasts 1 to 3 years depending on climatic conditions. Natural habitats include damp 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.