- Author: Andrea Peck
- Editor: Noni Todd
One Ugly Bug
By Andrea Peck
During one of the recent stormy nights, I encountered two interlopers creaking along my kitchen tile. The room was dim, barely lit by the patio light that held watch for flooding. A warm breeze swirled in as that lovely sound of rain pummeled the concrete. I saw them before they saw me: potato bugs. They must have come in to rescue themselves from the sodden soil.
Known as Jerusalem crickets, the potato bug is an unappetizing beast of an insect. They grow from 1-2 1/2 inches in size and are as ugly as I'll get out. Sheathed in a yellow-orange skin that is reminiscent of bile, their skull-like head houses long, thin antennae. Their legs are rubbery and bent up with attached digits that resemble an electrocuted broom. But, I think the epicenter of that queasy, shivery sensation resides in the oversized larva-like body.
How to get rid of them, while rain creates a slip-n-slide of the patio?
Years ago I met a potato bug in its natural environment: under a rock. The bug made me shriek to myself. I dropped the rock and took a breather. But the second meeting was much more earth shattering. It was at night. I walked along my dark hallway, into the kitchen and saw it there like the lump of creepiness that it is and thought to myself, I could have stepped on that.
Over the years I have come to peace with this ginormous insect. Unearthing one while weeding causes the creature to flop over while its rudimentary legs paw the air. They are shocked at the light and you. If you look closely you may see a facial expression not unlike Edvard Munch's The Scream. Some even play dead.
Because of their size, you may think that they are something to be worried about. Not so. Unless you have decided to pick one up and hug it and love it and squeeze it, you will probably not be bitten. Your real worry is how to get it back into the soil without touching that subterranean body. Considered scavengers, they are not generally labeled as pests. Certainly they do munch on roots, tubers and decaying animal matter. Their name comes from their interest in potatoes –sometimes they will nosh on those. But, overall they are not capable of much damage.
The potato bug is flightless. Thank goodness. They are nocturnal and like other crickets are able to make a sound by rubbing their back legs against their abdomen. This is called stridulation. Some say the sound is like a woman or child screaming. When disturbed, they may make a drumming sound by tapping their abdomen against the ground. Despite their reputation of being passive, the female has been known to kill the male after mating.
In North America, the Jerusalem cricket is found west of the Rocky Mountains. It is the largest insect in western North America. I lost my initial squeamishness for them when I realized how bumbling and unprepared they are for confrontation. Their unaesthetic appearance made me feel all the sorrier for them. It is interesting to note that there are six species that reside in California. One species has gone extinct in the San Francisco area due to habitat destruction. Three other species are considered endangered.
So what became of those two guests that visited on that wet evening? After a bit of coercion I convinced them to hook their bristly legs onto a paper towel and I placed them back out into the night – under shelter, of course.