Dwarf Mole Crickets

Dwarf mole crickets are 2-7 cm eyeless cylindrical-bodied, fossorial insects with shoveling forelimbs for burrowing. They spend most of their lives underground, but develop wings and fly above ground to mate. They create new nests near sicklevines and in competition with crumple bugs.

Dwarf mole crickets are eaten when above ground for mating by black toads, knifebill gulls, and banded lemurs.

Conservation Status

Dwarf mole crickets and crumple bugs keep each other's populations in check but neither is endangered.