Mole Cricket

insects · diggers · underground

Built for digging. Mole crickets have special shovel-shaped front legs that are incredibly strong and perfect for tunneling through soil. Their whole body is tube-shaped and compact, which helps them squeeze through their underground tunnels.

Tiny hidden eyes. Even though they live in the dark underground, mole crickets still have small eyes. These eyes don't help much in the darkness, but the crickets rely on their antennae and sense of touch to find their way.

Perfect pocket-sized pest. Adult mole crickets are only about 3 to 5 centimeters long, roughly the size of your thumb. Despite their small size, they can cause big problems in gardens and farms by eating plant roots.

Travelers around the world. Mole crickets live in many different parts of the world, and sometimes they accidentally get transported to new places on plants or soil. When they arrive in a new home where they have no natural enemies, they can quickly become pests that damage crops.