Mole Cricket

insects · burrowers · crickets · soil

Shovel-like diggers. Mole crickets have front legs that look like tiny shovels, perfectly shaped for tunneling through dirt. These powerful legs make them expert miners of the underground world.

Small but mighty. Adult mole crickets are only about 3 to 5 centimeters long, roughly the size of your pinky finger. Despite their small size, they're muscular diggers.

Tiny hidden eyes. Mole crickets have very small eyes because they spend most of their lives underground where it's dark. They rely more on feeling vibrations and touch than on sight.

Traveling troublemakers. Mole crickets live in many parts of the world and belong to the insect family Gryllotalpidae. When they arrive in new places, farmers sometimes see them as pests because they can damage crops.

Cylindrical shape. Their bodies are rounded and tube-shaped, like a stubby cigar, which helps them squeeze through tight tunnels in the soil.