Grasshoppers and Relatives
Carolina Mantis and Florida Woods Cockroach
Two-striped Walkingstick and Southeastern Bush Katydid
Mischievous Grasshopper and Wingless Florida Grasshopper
Pygmy Mole Crickets. The following images are, to all appearances, Neotridactylus archboldi, a species that was described years ago from the Lake Wales Ridge. It is, of course, possible that the Atlantic Coastal Ridge has its own pygmy mole cricket, just as it has its own scrub grasshopper but it would probably take genetic work to figure this out. Since these insects require open scrub habitat, and are completely flightless, they might well have been stranded on different ridges in Florida.
The first image shows a tunnel made by the insect searching for algea, lichens, fungi, and bacteria to eat. Recent rains have caused the crickets to burrow near the surface. As the sand dries, they burrow deeper. The second image shows how small the insects are as compared to grains of sand or the spikelet of the sedge Bulbostylis ciliatifolia. The cricket was nice enough to remain still and let me take two close up shots before it hopped off.
The first image shows a tunnel made by the insect searching for algea, lichens, fungi, and bacteria to eat. Recent rains have caused the crickets to burrow near the surface. As the sand dries, they burrow deeper. The second image shows how small the insects are as compared to grains of sand or the spikelet of the sedge Bulbostylis ciliatifolia. The cricket was nice enough to remain still and let me take two close up shots before it hopped off.