Oriental Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa orientalis) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

The Oriental Mole Cricket is a burrowing cricket from Asia whose broad, flattened front legs look like a mole's paws. It can dig, walk, swim, and fly, and often comes to lights at night. It isn't found on the US mainland, and a 2020 study suggests that Hawaii's mole cricket, long recorded under this name, is a different species.

Appearance

Appearance: A stout, brown insect about 1 in (2–3 cm) long, covered in fine velvety hair. It has short antennae, a large shield over the front of its body, and broad, flattened digging front legs.

Look-alikes

European Mole CricketGryllotalpa gryllotalpa

It is bigger, about 1.4–1.8 in (36–46 mm) long. It is the only Gryllotalpa mole cricket known from the eastern US, established locally in northern New Jersey, southeastern New York, and Connecticut.

Why they get mixed upSame genus and nearly the same shape.

Northern Mole CricketNeocurtilla hexadactyla

The native mole cricket of the eastern and central US and southern Canada. All mole crickets look much alike in photos, so where you found it is the best clue: a mole cricket found on the US mainland is far more likely to be a native or established American species than this Asian one.

Why they get mixed upAll mole crickets share the same mole-like front legs and velvety brown body.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: Damp fields
Pond and stream banks
Gardens
Rice paddies
Range: Native to a wide swath of Asia, including the Russian Far East, China, Korea, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia.
Preferred conditions: Prefers moist, rich soil, where it digs a network of vertical and horizontal tunnels.

Behavior

Diet: Eats roots, tubers, and seeds as well as earthworms and small insects.
Activity: Comes to the surface in the evening and at night and flies toward lights. In Asian rice paddies it has been seen swimming from plant to plant.
Overwintering: Adults and large nymphs spend the winter about 3 ft (1 m) underground.

Life cycle

Nest: Mating takes place underground. The female digs a deep chamber, lays her eggs there, and guards the young for a few weeks after they hatch about 10 days later.
Time to maturity: Takes 1 to 3 years to grow up, depending on climate.

Name and classification

About the name: It was once lumped with the African mole cricket (Gryllotalpa africana) and thought to range across Africa and Asia; it was recognized as its own species in the 1980s. The mole cricket that reached Hawaii before 1896 was recorded first as G. africana and later as this species, but a 2020 comparison of specimens points to Gryllotalpa krishnani, a species described from India.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
Threats: It can be a crop pest in Asia, gnawing the roots of grains, vegetables, and potatoes.

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