This small creature is less than 1/2 inch long (about 10 mm) and resembles a cricket but is more closely related to grasshoppers. It has enlarged hind femurs used for jumping. It is superficially similar to mole crickets but is unrelated.
This creature is typically found on sandy margins of ponds, ditches and streams. This specimen was found on the muddy shore of the Teaching Pond on the floodplain of Fontenelle Forest. It ranges throughout eastern North America to southern California and south into Central America. It may be uncommon in this area but we don’t really know because it has only been seen and photographed once.
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