Pygmy Mole Cricket

And my day was already going well. Earlier in the day, I'd found a poem written some years ago and forgotten inside a book. While hiking, I'd found some interesting hover flies, some showy butterflies, several handsome Autumn Meadowhawks, and a Lance-tipped Darner.

Things got even better when I reached a sunlit, sandy spot along the river. A variety of plants grew along this open stretch of river bank and a wide margin of mud followed the river, but there were also several areas of clear sand and one of those was fully in the sun. I settled in and watched the Bronzed Tiger Beetles, at least fifty raced here and there across the sand. There were other insects here as well. A small spider wasp. Many tiny Oxybelus wasps, hunters of tiny flies. Several larger sand wasps.

Then I noticed what looked to be a small beetle digging in the sand. About half the size of the tiger beetles, or smaller. I pointed the camera at it and took a few photos. Looking at the magnified images, I saw that it was a Pygmy Mole Cricket. A second one showed up not long afterwards. I'd never encountered these fantastic creatures before.

Posted on September 8, 2017 04:06 AM by scottking