280 days of Urbpandemonium #132

[urbpan]

Add another to the ever-growing list of harmless animals that people are inexplicably horrified by. What is the magic formula? Jerky movements? Body-to-leg ratio? I've heard some people refer to camel crickets (family Rhaphidophoridae) as "sprickets" because they think there's something too spidery about them. The fact of the matter is that like millipedes and isopods, camel crickets are detritovores that like dark and humid places. They look weird to us because they have no wings, and may nibble on paper or fabric items, but are otherwise nothing to worry about. A recent citizen science project showed that invasive Asian species are beginning to displace native species.

* "Bearer of needles," I suppose because of the conspicuous spines on the legs.

Comments

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

I do not love camel crickets. Their jerky seeimingly unpredictable movements do indeed creep me out. I once opened a long-closed garage on an old property and... well, that was the day I learned about camel crickets. The thing that gets me more even than their movements is what gets me about crickets and grasshoppers (although I don't really mind crickets, whereas grasshoppers totally gross me out) is the sticky leg factor. YUCK.

Grasshoppers have faces that I do not like. Also this kid named Tim Simmons used to bite their heads off behind the big oak tree in grade school and so my memory of grasshoppers is that and also one getting stuck in my hair as I ran through a field as a kid. Ick.