Australian Mole Cricket
S1, Male, Wing Venation
Adelaide Hills
Australian Mole Cricket
S1, Male, Ocelli
 
                      
Australian Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa australis)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Crickets, Grasshoppers & Katydids (Orthoptera)
Family: Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Australian Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa australis)
This Photo:     🔍S1, Male, Claws🔎

Thank you Matthew Connors & Thomas Mesaglio for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found in the Adelaide Hills and possibly elsewhere
~28mm long (head & body)
The diagnostic black colouration of the wing is not visible at all angles.
The two dimples on the pronotum don't seem to be mentioned anywhere, but both specimens photographed have them
The ocelli look defunct (brown rather than black)?
Had them in our lawn in Lobethal. They were so loud at certain times of the year we couldn't sit under our verandah.
There are very few sightings of these (even less in SA), but that's probably because they live underground. But when you do see them, such prehistoric animals!

Copyright © 2016-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 10-Mar-2016
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.