What does a mole cricket look like, why is a bite dangerous, how to remove it

There are also plenty of pests in summer cottages and garden plots. An insect like the mole cricket is one of them. Sometimes, multiplying in large numbers, this arthropod causes a lot of trouble for farmers. In this article we will look at the damage it causes and how to get rid of mole crickets in the garden. But first, let’s get to know this pest better: how it lives, what it eats, how it reproduces, where it settles, and so on. We attach a photo of the bear and a description. You need to know the enemy by sight)

Medvedka as a medicine

No matter how scary the mole cricket looks, it turns out to be a very useful insect. Traditional medicine claims: the use of mole crickets as a medicine is recognized today as a very effective remedy in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis! The body of these insects contains an enzyme that destroys the waxy shell of Koch's bacillus. In addition, it contains various minerals and vitamins, so preparations from mole crickets are easily absorbed by the patient’s body.

Here is one of the recipes:

Grind 30 g of dried mole cricket into powder, divide into 9 equal parts (3.3 grams each) - this amount is enough for one 3-day course. Take 3 times a day 15 minutes before meals, 1 part (3.3 g), mixed with sugar syrup or honey, with water. Treatment involves 3-6 courses with a break of 10 days.

That's it, bear!

Medvedka - characteristics

Even novice gardeners and gardeners know that the mole cricket is a small insect that can eat plant roots. It belongs to the Orthoptera and is capable of flight. However, in practice this is rarely done. The insect, according to scientists, received its Russian name due to its short bent legs. The modified limbs vaguely resemble the paws of a bear. Directly due to them, the insect moves in the soil.

What does a bear look like?

The mole cricket, whose second name is kapustyanka, is a large insect. The length of its body, not taking into account the antennae and cerci, reaches 5 cm. Moreover, the cephalothorax is 3 times smaller than the abdomen and has the shape of a spindle. The diameter of the body in mature individuals reaches 1 cm. The chest is covered with a hard shell. The head can be partially hidden under it, providing protection. On the surface of the head are distinguishable:

• 2 eyes;
• mustache in the form of antennas;
• two pairs of tentacles around the mouthparts (gnawing type).

In total, the insect has 3 pairs of limbs. The front one is modified and is used for digging underground passages. The hind legs do not allow the mole cricket to jump, like its close relatives - grasshoppers and crickets. The wings in a calm state resemble 2 long thin ropes, extending beyond the abdomen. To fly, these insects require high air temperatures, otherwise the wing muscles will not be able to function.

Where does the bear live?

An excellent habitat for the mole cricket insect is sandy, sun-warmed soil and flat terrain. It avoids dry areas and soils, and in dry years it moves to coastal, moist soils. Lives underground and practically never comes to the surface (only at night). Overwinters in the soil at a depth of 60 cm or in compost pits. Cabbage and mole crickets are widely found in Europe and North Africa, but they are not found in Norway.

What does a bear eat?

The basis of this pest’s menu is the roots of agricultural crops. However, small insects and worms are also present in the diet of this predator. Let's list what the mole cricket eats especially often:

• potato;
• beets;
• cabbage;
• tomatoes;
• sunflower;
• linen;
• tobacco;
• corn;
• barley;
• soy;
• rice.

How does a mole cricket chirp?

Due to the friction of hard wings against each other, the insect is able to produce a specific sound. Anyone who has ever been to a rural area or a dacha has heard it. According to entomologists, the sound of a mole cricket can spread over a distance of more than 500 m. In this way, insects communicate with each other.

The stridulatory apparatus is better developed in males, so they make such sounds more often. When talking about how the mole cricket “sings,” it should be noted that insects can make sounds both at night and during the day. Calling night trills have a low and sharp sound. While moving through underground passages, the mole cricket insect also makes trills, but the chirping in this case is muffled and short.

What do they eat

Mole crickets are omnivores, feeding on roots, tubers, rhizomes, insects, earthworms, and other invertebrates. Leave neat round holes in tuberous plants.

Sometimes they leave their burrows at night to get leaves and stems, which they drag underground before consumption.

The mole cricket feeds on a wide range of crops and disturbs the soil with its burrows. It is considered a harmful organism because it damages grains, legumes, perennial grasses, potatoes, vegetables, beets, sunflowers, tobacco, hemp, flax, and strawberries. Damages the roots of grapevines and fruit trees.

The pest causes damage to wheat, barley, oats, rice, corn, and sugar beets.

Insect lifestyle and habitat

The mole cricket is a pest that hides underground. Indirect signs of the presence of an insect are the passages it has dug and the soil loosened at the surface. However, the mole cricket already chooses loose, light, fertile soil. The latter quality is necessary for the abundance of plants on which the insect feeds. The first two qualities of the soil make it easier for the mole cricket to move through it.

In addition to looseness, the pest evaluates soil moisture. Irrigated land is preferred. Mole crickets appear from under it at night. Sometimes insects fly into the light. Males chirp at the same time, but less elegantly than crickets. The voices of mole crickets can be heard at a distance of 600 meters.

Chirping serves as a means of communication. Insects prefer to communicate at night. Daytime silence is associated with a fear of birds. The birds calculate the location of the mole crickets. Illumination is an additional guideline. At night, when birds hear mole crickets, they cannot see them.

The first visits of mole crickets to the surface in most of Russia are recorded in May, and the last in September. Insects spend the winter at a meter depth. The usual habitat of the pest is 20 centimeters below the surface of the earth. This is the adult level. Juveniles are found at a depth of 5-10 centimeters and winter at 25 centimeters.

The insect's passages descend deep into the ground at an angle of 50-60 degrees. The presence of pests in the soil complicates the answer to the question of how to deal with mole crickets. Juveniles and larvae can be provided to chickens and wild birds by digging up the top layer of soil in early spring.

Half-asleep insects will not have time to escape from hungry birds. But what to do with adult pests hiding at a considerable depth? More on this in the final chapter. In the meantime, let’s find out what the mole cricket can do to the site.

Preventive measures

Even if mole crickets are not visible on the site, there is no guarantee that they will not appear in the near future. Pests come from a neighboring garden, appear on the site along with manure, fly through the air, and in other ways. Simple preventive measures will help preserve the harvest.

Preventive measures:

1. When selecting fertilizers, fresh manure is excluded. The best choice is biennial manure. Then the appearance of pests will become impossible.
2. Everyone knows the role of green manure in plant cultivation. These are not only green fertilizers. Green manure protects cultivated plants from insects. Therefore, it is useful to plant them to preserve the harvest. It is better to plant rye or marigolds against mole crickets.
3. If the autumn garden is not put in order, plant remains are not burned or buried, mole crickets and larvae choose old fruits and leaves for wintering. And in the spring they fill the area. Therefore, autumn work in the garden is protection from mole crickets.
4. Agrotechnical activities, such as weeding and digging, play an important role in the battle with mole crickets for the harvest. By pulling out weeds, a person deprives the mole cricket of food. In addition, mole crickets do not return to the ground where tunnels and burrows have been destroyed by digging.
5. Crop rotation prevents diseases and the spread of pests. Planting plants constantly in one place provokes the accumulation of old diseases, and at the same time mole cricket larvae.
6. Mole crickets settle only in acidic soils. Therefore, annual soil deoxidation reduces the likelihood of site contamination. For deoxidation, use lime or dolomite flour.
7. Since the mole cricket loves warm soil, gardeners reduce the soil temperature. To do this, mulch the soil with light material. Straw, sawdust, pine needles will do. In addition to lowering the temperature, the smell of mulch also repels the pest.

For prevention purposes, garden crops are planted near the beds or along the perimeter, which repel the pest with a specific smell. And experienced gardeners do not recommend fresh manure, where larvae and adult insects settle. It is recommended to use humus or compost.

Enemies of the mole cricket

A separate predator that attacks mole cricket eggs in China and Japan is the bombardier beetle Stenaptinus jessoensis. An adult beetle lays eggs near the insect's burrow, and subsequently the beetle larvae find their way to the egg chamber of the burrow and eat the mole cricket eggs.

Fungal diseases can devastate mole cricket populations during the winter before the thaw occurs. The fungus Beauveria bassiana can infect adults, completely destroying their body. Other fungal, microsporidian and viral pathogens may also be involved in this process.

In general, mole crickets easily elude predators by living underground and burrowing vigorously if they feel threatened by something on the surface. As a last line of defense, mole crickets spray foul-smelling brown liquid from their anal glands at their enemy when captured. In addition, they can bite.

What sounds does a bear make?

The mole cricket, like the cricket, is a “musical” insect, capable of producing chirping trills that can sometimes be heard at a distance of up to half a kilometer. Sounds are produced by rubbing the hard front elytra against each other.

The trills of mole crickets serve communication between them, as well as a very important matter - sexual reproduction of insects, since through the performance of “love serenades” males attract females. Females, by the way, are also capable of chirping. The sound power of the mole cricket is 1.4 mW, while for the cricket this figure is only 0.06 mW.

How do mole crickets harm you?

Mole crickets are enemies of plants. Most of the damage caused by these insects is the result of their digging activities. By digging their tunnels to a depth of several centimeters in the soil, they push out the soil in small ridges, increasing the evaporation of surface moisture, which greatly disrupts seed germination and damages the fine roots of young seedlings. In addition, mole crickets are harmful to turf and lawn grass because the insects feed on grass roots, causing plants to dry out and reduce yield.

This article contains answers to various questions about mole crickets.

Does a mole cricket bite or not?

The appearance of this insect can really frighten an unprepared person. The front legs of this beetle, which look like unique strong and developed “paws,” may cause particular concern. These “paws” have pointed teeth, with the help of which the mole cricket bites into the ground and root system of plants.

With these teeth, the mole cricket can scratch human skin. However, the mole cricket cannot bite either with its mouthparts or with its “paws”, since it does not have strong enough “muscles” for this. So the answer to the question of whether a mole cricket bites is definitely negative.

What is the largest mole cricket?

Unfortunately, there are no official institutions, like the Guinness Book of Records, that would document the maximum size and weight of mole crickets.

At the same time, gardeners claim that they have seen giant mole crickets up to 12-15 cm in size and several centimeters thick. Theoretically, this is quite possible.

A mole cricket can grow to such a size if there are very good living conditions - an optimal level of soil moisture, mild winter frosts and a varied diet.

Does the bear fly or not?

Yes, the bear flies. In May, the most romantic period in the life of mole crickets begins - the mating period. Young mole crickets remember that they have wings, which they do not need at all the rest of the time, and at night they fly off in search of a mate.

People, with their inherent cunning, take advantage of the love blindness of mole crickets: at night they put out lanterns, and under them there are troughs with a mixture of water and kerosene. Like all nocturnal insects, mole crickets fly into the light, hit a lantern, fall into a trough and die.

Can a bear sing?

Oddly enough, the answer to this question is yes. During the mating season, mole crickets show similarities with their cricket relatives; they begin to chirp in order to attract a partner. Like crickets, mole crickets' wings serve as musical instruments. On one wing there is a “bow”, on the other there are “strings”. Rubbing one wing against the other, the mole cricket makes sounds that are called the “mole cricket song.”

However, the sounds of this song evoke a completely unsentimental mood among gardeners. Hearing her, they grab a shovel and run to dig up the mole cricket, guided by its song as a guiding thread.

In 1976, American scientists conducted an interesting experiment. The bear's calling song was recorded on a tape recorder. When this recording was turned on at night, it attracted a considerable number of female mole crickets. However, it is unknown what continuation this experience received.

How long does a bear live?

In nature, in one and a half to two years, the mole cricket larva grows into an adult, which, in turn, exists for about one year. If a mole cricket is grown purposefully with the creation of the necessary conditions, then such an adult insect can live for 2-3 years.

Thus, the full life cycle of a mole cricket in the natural environment is relatively short - 2.5 - 3.5 years.

Spoiled roots of adult plants and young shoots, leading to their death, in most cases indicate the presence of mole crickets, an underground pest, in the garden plot.

Reproduction

After mating is completed, the female lays over five hundred eggs in a pre-prepared burrow. It looks like a huge earthen cocoon with a lot of eggs.

In mid-summer, young larvae emerge from the eggs, resembling an adult insect, only with a less protected body and developed hind legs, like a grasshopper. In addition, the larvae are wingless and blind, like newborn kittens.

It may take one to two years for the larvae to mature into adults. In this case, the insect goes through eight to ten molts, each of which prepares the nymph’s body for adulthood.

Thus, we see that the mole cricket does not have a pupal stage in development, and the larva is, in fact, an infant form of the imago. This type of insect development is called “incomplete transformation.”

Our help! Insect larvae with incomplete metamorphosis are not only similar in appearance to adults, but their behavior and nutrition are also similar to adults.

Medvedka - what kind of animal?

If you look at this insect through a magnifying glass, you will be horrified by its threatening appearance. Do not think that this living organism, seemingly small in size (they reach five to six centimeters in length), is not so scary.

Many people notice that this creature is somewhat reminiscent of a mole. Apparently, this is due to the fact that the living creature has very strong paws on the front of the body. These limbs help her easily dig trenches in the ground and move along them. The cabbage fly (as the individual is also called) spends quite a bit of time on the surface.

Although it has wings, the pest is capable of flying up to a height of half a meter. In general, this representative of arthropods was nicknamed mole cricket precisely for its external resemblance to this animal. Firstly, the color. It is brown, sometimes with greenish tints.

On the forelimbs there are claws of quite impressive size. And the dimensions of this Orthoptera are impressive compared to similar creatures. The entire body is strewn with small fluff - thin hairs.

The bug received its second name, cabbage, because of its pronounced love of eating heads of cabbage. Very strong jaws help to absorb it without problems.

The tentacles on the sides of the mouth opening help them. The head and the front of the body are covered by a shell. It does not serve for beauty or protection, but in order to successfully carry out the digging function.

This creature is not silent. It is one of the few insects that can produce sounds. This happens with the help of friction of the elytra. Such a sound can “fly” as much as half a kilometer. This is a way for such “mini-moles” to communicate.

All modes of transportation are available to her: swimming, flying, and walking. You can meet insects in almost every corner of our planet. Russia is no exception. Bugs live in many regions of our country.

Why is this representative of the cricket superfamily dangerous? His extensive diet is the main problem. This creature eats almost everything it encounters on its way. It can be:

• Plant roots and tubers
• Seed material
• Very young shoots

Moreover, they are not particularly picky in terms of plant species. All of the above forms of potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, beets, onions, melons, grapes, strawberries, and herbs (parsley, for example) are eaten.

They do not disdain citrus fruits, apple trees, tea and even cotton. Oaks, poplars and pines suffer from these gluttons. It’s impossible to list everything. But they are not limited to plants; their menu also includes various larvae and worms.

These creatures reproduce in the spring months, just when gardeners begin to plant their plots. In winter, these pests do not disappear anywhere, but simply burrow deeper. And when the air warms up to +15 again, living creatures move to the surface of the earth. However, outside, most often, it can be found at night.

Convex areas of land in the form of tunnels will help you understand that it’s time to sound the alarm and these beetles have infested your area. Another sign is the sudden death of seemingly healthy greenery.

And if such a disaster has happened to your crops, it’s time to think about what the fight against mole crickets should be like in the garden. And it’s not so bad when it’s a rainy summer. After all, such weather will not allow the pest to calmly go about its business. Due to the humidity, insects are affected by various ailments and the bugs die.

But if the weather is unlucky and the climate is mostly dry, you will have to work hard to get such a guest out.

According to many experienced vegetable growers, one method is not enough to overcome the attack. You need to act comprehensively, and in addition to everything, make sure that your neighbors in your summer cottage are also concerned about this issue. Otherwise, your efforts will be useless.

Plus, no one has canceled prevention. Loosening the soil is one of these ways to protect yourself. Fifteen centimeters deep will be enough. It is important to do this at the end of spring and in the first days of summer. Then you can block the underground paths of these creatures, as well as the road to laying eggs.

If you have a compost pit in your garden, which can also become a refuge for cabbage grass, you need to build a high-quality fence to protect it. It should have no holes

In addition, it is important to deepen it into the ground at least half a meter

Benefit

You can benefit from the harmful activities of insects. It loosens the soil like a mole, saturates it with some important components that fall into the soil with its excrement. And if you grow cultivated plants in such an area, the presence of mole crickets does not interfere at all.

According to ancient folk recipes, mole cricket helps to cope with tuberculosis. To do this, you need to grind the insect into powder, mix it with a glass of water, and drink it. In some countries, garden pests are used to prepare delicious dishes and serve them in restaurants. Fans of exotic animals breed insects in a terrarium. They reproduce faster They reproduce faster than Madagascar cockroaches.

To the question of whether mole crickets bite, there is a clear answer - no! The insect does not threaten human life; the most it can do is pinch with its forelimbs, even if it is caught in a trap and is trying to be pulled out. This won't cause much discomfort.

The scary and menacing appearance of the mole cricket multiplies rumors and misconceptions. It can be assumed that this insect must bite painfully. But in fact, the cabbage weed physically cannot bite anyone. The structure of its mouthparts is such that it is not able to bite through human skin: nature has ideally adapted this insect for digging underground passages and absorbing plant food. It lacks a sting and glands that produce poison. Let's leave the aesthetic side alone, because some people even like spiders and cockroaches. But the bear still gives some unpleasant sensations to those who grab it with an unprotected hand.

Natural ways to fight mole crickets

In a large garden, I almost came to terms with the presence of a mole cricket. So that she gets as few vegetables as possible, I make single high beds, up to 30 cm in height. But this year we installed a new greenhouse, and we brought new residents into it with compost and manure. Who appreciated the taste of peppers, watermelons, and cucumbers.

Moreover, the first losses appeared only after the seedlings were planted in the ground. Before this, the insects did not reveal themselves. I assumed that they were repelled by the eggshells that were generously added to the compost. In general, there are many folk ways to eliminate mole crickets:

Adding eggshells to the soil. It is believed that the mole cricket actively consumes the shells as food, trying to strengthen the chitin. But this food is not digested and the mole cricket, in fact, must die.

• Digging up the soil and pouring vegetable oil into the passages. The oil should clog the insect's spiracles, forcing it to crawl out. You pour the oil, wait until the client is ripe, grab him and kill him.
• Burying beer bottles in the ground. They should be laid at an angle so that the mole cricket, once in the bottle, cannot get out of there. It should be taken into account that some smart individuals deliberately add soil to a beer bottle, which they then eat. Therefore, you can, again, catch a drunk mole cricket and destroy it.
• Planting garlic in the garden. It is believed that the smell of onions and garlic scares away the mole cricket, forcing it to choose a different direction for digging.

In addition to eggshells, we also tried a method with garlic. Since there were no cloves for free planting, I had to sow garlic seeds around the perimeter of the planted watermelons and melons. The method is quite effective, but does not give 100% results; a mole cricket is passed next to the garlic to sharpen the tasty watermelon root.

Interesting Facts

In Zambia, mole crickets are believed to bring good luck to those who see them. People in Latin America say they predict rain when they dig in the ground. In Japan they were associated with worms, the beetles that announce a person's sins to heaven in the Koushin faith.

Find out more How to get rid of food moths in the kitchen using folk remedies

Gryllotalpa species were used as food in West Java, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand. They are usually eaten fried along with sticky rice.

How to get rid of a mole cricket

Chemical and biological drugs

Modern chemical pest control products can be divided into 2 groups: preparations based on imidacloprid and those based on diazinon.

Imidacloprid affects the nervous system of the pest, causing paralysis and convulsions. Diazinon blocks breathing and poisons the mole cricket. Insects die when they come to the surface of the earth.

Thunder

Bait preparation in the form of granules. The food additives included in its composition attract mole crickets more than plants. 2–3 g of the product are placed in the holes and passages of the pest to a depth of 3–5 cm with an interval between granules of 0.5–1 m. The depressions are covered with earth, compacted, and if the soil is dry, then moisten it. Use the drug 5–10 days before sowing seeds or planting seedlings. The protective effect lasts 2 weeks.

Medvetox

Available in the form of large red granules. Protects the root system of seedlings and adult plants. In the evening, the granules are laid out in holes and grooves to a depth of 3–5 cm, covered with earth and watered. To block the paths, it is recommended to distribute the drug along the perimeter of the beds. The consumption rate of the product is 30 g per 10 square meters. m.

1 granule kills 1 pest. The granules do not dissolve in the soil and protect for 3 weeks. The product is safe for earthworms. It is applied no later than 2 months before harvest.

Frontier

The drug protects for 2 weeks and does not cause addiction to the active substances. Causes the death of the pest within 3 hours after eating. The consumption rate of the product is 30 g per 10 square meters. m. Apply several days in advance or on the day of planting. Planting depth is 3–5 cm; if necessary, moisten the soil.

Phenaxin plus

Bait in the form of granules. It has a pleasant taste and smell for mole crickets. The granules are laid out both in the places where plants are placed (10 days before planting) and near manure and compost heaps.

Make furrows 2–3 cm deep in the soil, place 3–5 granules, sprinkle with earth and spill. An interval of 0.5–1 m is maintained between placement sites. The drug protects against pests for 14–20 days.

Grizzly

Destroys adults and larvae within 48 hours after treatment. The bait is introduced into the holes to a depth of 2–5 cm, 2 g per 1 square meter. m, departing from the plantings by 5–10 cm. Apply the drug in the morning or evening at an air temperature no higher than 25°C.

Boverin

A biological product based on a natural fungus isolated from soil. It is planted in the ground in wet weather, in spring or autumn. In order for the fungus to take root and begin to grow, it will need to be applied annually for 2–4 years.

The spores of the fungus, once on the pest, penetrate it and, growing inside, cause the death of the mole cricket. The dosage of the product is 400–500 ml per 10 liters of water.

Nemabact

A non-toxic biological product based on nematodes and bacteria that are dangerous to the pest. Use at air temperatures between 10–26°C and high humidity. To activate the nematodes, the drug must warm up naturally for 4–8 hours.

The product is diluted in water at a concentration of 1:100 and watered the soil. The solution should not get on the leaves; the nematode will die on them.

Traditional methods

Many summer residents “hunt” mole crickets by setting up non-chemical baits and traps.

• In autumn, the pest is caught in manure pits. They are dug to a depth of 0.5 m, filled with fresh manure and covered with earth. Pests will gather in these attractive wintering places. After the soil freezes, the manure is scattered and the mole crickets die from frost. Manure baits can be placed in May, when the pest lays eggs. After a month, the traps are checked and the adults and eggs are destroyed.
• The pest has a strong sense of smell and is caught by smell. In their habitats, mole crickets bury 0.5 liter glass jars or plastic bottles with the neck cut off, level with the soil. Porridge is made from corn, oats, peas, and wheat, aromatic vegetable oil is added and jars are filled. Additionally, karbofos and zinc phosphide are added to the porridge to speed up the death of the mole cricket. Such traps should not be left unattended, as pets may be harmed.

• You can make safe baits. Insects love fermented beer and use it instead of porridge, pouring it into buried bottles and jars.
• Scented oil is added to crushed eggshells from fresh eggs and placed in the pest’s burrows.
• The smell of kerosene repels mole crickets. Sand moistened with kerosene is scattered around the beds where the presence of mole crickets is noticed.

Types of mole crickets, photos and names.

Medvedkas hardly differ from each other in appearance and lifestyle. Some can be distinguished from each other only by the number of chromosomes.

According to the latest research and information presented on the website orthoptera.speciesfile.org, the Far Eastern mole cricket (lat. Gryllotalpa fossor) is synonymous with the African mole cricket (lat. Gryllotalpa africana).

Common mole cricket

The common mole cricket (lat. Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa) is a widespread species. The body size of the insect reaches 3.5-5 cm, the length of the pronotum is 1.2-1.6 cm, the elytra is 1.3-2.1 cm, the hind femur is 1-1.3 cm. The body is dark brown, with lighter, brownish-yellow abdomen, covered with dense small hairs. The head and back are almost black. The abdomen is yellowish or olive in color. Widely distributed in Europe, except Scandinavian countries. The common mole cricket also lives in Russia, North Africa and some areas of Asia: Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Western Asia, the Middle East, Iran, Kazakhstan.

African mole cricket

The African mole cricket (eastern mole cricket) (lat. Gryllotalpa africana) has smaller dimensions than the common mole cricket: the body is 2.0-3.5 cm, the length of the pronotum is 0.6-0.9 cm, the length of the elytra is 0.8-1. 2 cm. Color brown-yellow above and yellow below. African mole crickets live in Central, South and Southeast Asia, on the Japanese and Philippine Islands, Ceylon and Madagascar, Korea, the Russian Far East, Australia, New Zealand, and in the tropics and subtropics of Africa.

Ten-toed mole cricket

The ten-fingered mole cricket (lat. Neocurtilla hexadactyla) is a species characterized by its small size: from 1.9 to 3.3 cm in length. Initially, these mole crickets inhabited North and Central America, and from there they settled into South America.

A close relative of the common mole cricket is the ten-toed mole cricket. The body length of an adult does not exceed 35 mm, and the thickness is 8-11 mm. It feeds on plant roots, young shoots and leads an underground lifestyle.

The main natural enemy of the insect is the burrowing wasp, which attacks the mole cricket in its burrow, stings (with paralyzing poison) and uses it as an incubator for its eggs.

Steppe mole cricket

The steppe mole cricket (lat. Gryllotalpa stepposa) is a morphological double of the common mole cricket, that is, it is absolutely similar in appearance. The length of the insect reaches 4-5.4 cm. The body color is brown-yellow. The habitat of the mole cricket is Moldova, the south of Ukraine, the Southern District of Russia and the south of Turkmenistan.

Single-thorn mole cricket

Single-thorned mole cricket (lat. Gryllotalpa unispina). The body length of the insect varies from 3.8 to 4.4 cm, the length of the oval pronotum is 1.1-1.3 cm, the elytra is 1.5-1.7 cm. The body structure, lifestyle, nutrition and reproduction of this insect are characteristic for the whole family, like the brownish-yellow color. It is a halophile, that is, it is found on saline soils along the shores of seas and lakes, as well as on wet salt marshes. Single-spined mole crickets live in the south of Moldova and Ukraine, in the Lower Volga region of Russia and the Rostov region, in Crimea, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan and China. Its habitat may change depending on the distribution of salt marshes and solonetzes.