Rhaphidophoridae
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The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae includes the cave wetas, cave crickets, camel crickets and sand treaders, of the suborder Ensifera, most are found in association with caves, animal burrows, cellars, under stones, or in similar environments. They are characterized in part by their long antennae and legs. They may be found on all continents and many continental islands, though Africa has but one species and that is confined to the southern Cape region. Those occurring in New Zealand, Australia, and Tasmania are typically referred to as wetas.
The well-known field crickets are from a different superfamily (Grylloidea) and only look vaguely similar, while members of the family Tettigoniidae may look superficially similar in body form.
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[edit] Description
Cave crickets have very large hind legs with "drumstick-shaped" femora and long, slender antennae. They are brownish in color and rather humpbacked in appearance, always wingless, and up to two inches/5 cm long in body and 10 cm (4 inches) for the legs. On young crickets the body may appear translucent. As the name implies, cave crickets are commonly found in caves. However, most species live in other cool, damp situations such as in wells, rotten logs, stumps and hollow trees, and under damp leaves, stones, boards, and logs. Occasionally, they prove to be a nuisance in the basements of homes in suburban areas. Some reach into alpine areas and live close to permanent ice — the Mount Cook "flea" and its relatives in New Zealand.
The group known as "sand treaders" are restricted to sand dunes, however, and are adapted to live in this environment; they are active only at night, and spend the day burrowed into the sand, to minimize water loss. They are pale, sand-colored insects, and their legs are modified with strong bristles for rapid digging.[citation needed]. In the large sand-dunes of California and Utah they serve as food for scorpions.
Their distinctive limbs and antennae serve a double purpose. Typically living in a lightless environment, or active at night, they rely heavily on their sense of touch, which is limited by reach. While they have been known to take up residence in the basements of buildings, many cave crickets live out their entire lives deep inside actual caves. In those habitats they sometimes face long spans of time with insufficient access to nutrients. To avoid starvation, they have been known to devour their own extremities, even though they cannot regenerate limbs. Given their limited vision, cave crickets will often jump towards any perceived threat in an attempt to frighten it away. Their large hind legs allow them to jump high and far.
Cave and camel crickets (also known as spider crickets) are of little economic importance except as a nuisance in buildings and homes, especially basements. They are usually "accidental invaders" that wander in by mistake from adjacent areas. They generally do not reproduce indoors, except in situations that provide continuous dark, moist conditions as well as organic debris to serve as food.
Although they appear intimidating, they are basically harmless to humans. They may cause minor damage to stored items, but are easily discouraged by eliminating the dark damp habitat they prefer.
Their long legs have caused them to be more commonly referred to as "sprickets" or "spickets", a conjunction between "spiders" (whose legs they resemble) and "crickets".
[edit] Elimination
Control efforts for camel crickets should include one or more of the below measures:
- Cultural:
- Eliminate suitable breeding and hiding sites outdoors around the house or building. Piles of bricks, stones, boards, leaves, etc., should be removed.
- Change outdoor lighting to yellow or sodium vapor bulbs
- Mechanical/physical:
- Do not pick up and discard individual crickets.
- Sweep with vacuum cleaner
- Use glue boards or other sticky traps, e.g., fly paper or upturned strips of duct tape. Shoe boxes with sideholes and pasted with depilation wax inside also work.
- Seal or screen entry points: cracks and gaps in foundation of building or siding or around windows and doors should be sealed.
- Chemical:
- If there is a breeding population and chemical control is desired, spray a residual barrier of diazinon, Dursban or Sevin insecticide around the outside of the house. This may be of benefit if sufficient is sprayed to reach breeding sites. It should be repeated monthly or bi-monthly.
- Spray household with "ant and cockroach" insecticide in floor areas where camel crickets hide or are seen; this is a last resort of limited benefit.
- Insecticide granules.
- Biological:
- Use predator and parasitic insects: House centipedes are a natural predatory form of control, but most homeowners are uncomfortable having them around, despite their beneficial nature[citation needed]
[edit] In popular culture
- In the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya a cave cricket appears as a data life form that attacks the protagonists in an alternative reality, though apart from its appearance and name, it has little in common with the insect.
- During the Dave Matthews Band edition of VH1's Storytellers Dave Matthews tells a story about his friend from South Africa and cave crickets.
[edit] Subfamilies and genera
- Subfamily Aemodogryllinae — cave crickets: Asia (Korea, Indochina, Russia, China)
- Diestrammena
- Eutachycines
- Microtachycines
- Paradiestrammena
- Paratachycines
- Tachycines Adelung, 1902
- Subfamily Ceuthophilinae — cave crickets, camel crickets & sand treaders: United States
- Ammobaenetes Hubbell, 1936
- Ceuthophilus Scudder, 1863
- Daihinia Haldeman, 1850
- Daihinibaenetes Tinkham, 1962
- Daihiniella Hubbell, 1936
- Daihiniodes Hebard, 1929
- Farallonophilus Rentz, 1972
- Macrobaenetes Tinkham, 1962
- Phrixocnemis Scudder, 1894
- Pristoceuthophilus Rehn, 1903
- Rhachocnemis Caudell, 1916
- Salishella Hebard, 1939
- Styracosceles Hubbell, 1936
- Typhloceuthophilus Hubbell, 1940
- Udeopsylla Scudder, 1863
- Utabaenetes Tinkham, 1970
- Subfamily Dolichopodainae — cave crickets: Mediterranean
- Dolichopoda
- Subfamily Hadenoecinae — cave crickets: United States
- Euhadenoecus Hubbell, 1978
- Hadenoecus Scudder, 1863
- Subfamily Macropathinae — cave wetas: Australia, Chile, New Zealand
- Subfamily Protroglophilinae †
- Protroglophilus †
- Subfamily Rhaphidophorinae — camel crickets: United States
- Gammarotettix Brunner, 1888
- Subfamily Troglophilinae — cave crickets: Mediterranean
- Troglophilus
- Subfamily Tropidischiinae — camel crickets: Canada
- Tropidischia Scudder, 1869
An as-yet-unnamed genus was discovered within a cave in Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, on the Utah-Arizona border, in 2005. Its most distinctive characteristic is that it has functional grasping cerci on its posterior.[1]
