Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Buggy


This bugger is called a Mormon Cricket.  (But it's not really a cricket; it's a katydid.) We didn't know what it was when we saw it.  It's a monster compared to the Minnesota variety  - the body is about 3 inches long.

That is not a stinger on the back.  This happens to be a female and she rams that wicked looking thing in the ground to deposit her eggs.

Supposedly they got their name because they devastated crops planted by Mormon settlers in 1848.  They still wreak havoc quite regularly in the American west.

No comments: