Bug FAQOriental Mole Cricket
Gryllotalpa orientalis · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Gryllotalpidae
Source: Wikipedia
The Oriental mole cricket is a plump, yellow-brown insect about 2 cm long, with pale underside and distinct colour changes as it grows. It lives underground in damp, rich soils and feeds on plant roots, tubers and other invertebrates, causing serious damage to many crops such as wheat, rice, sugarcane and vegetables.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Adults are yellow-brown with a paler underside; newly hatched nymphs have a blue-white prothorax and legs, later turning gray-black with white markings and short wing pads as they mature.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure about 20 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
In Hawaii it attacks sugarcane and damages irrigation ditch banks; in Asia it gnaws roots and tubers of wheat, barley, rice, maize, beans, potatoes and many other crops.
Source: Wikipedia
How to get rid of it
The parasitoid wasp Larra polita, introduced from the Philippines in 1925, has been used to help suppress populations.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It lives underground in damp, rich soils, creating a network of tunnels.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It feeds on plant roots, tubers and rhizomes, as well as insects, earthworms and other invertebrates.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The whole life cycle lasts 1 to 3 years depending on climate, with adults and late-instar nymphs overwintering about a metre below the surface.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults emerge to the surface at night, especially in the evenings, and are attracted to lights. A mass emergence can occur when temperatures rise to 12 to 15 °C after winter.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It was once confused with G. africana, but was recognized as a separate species in the 1980s.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 1 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Hawaii.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: introduced in United States. Source: iNaturalist
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I control Oriental mole crickets?
Use deep ploughing, traps, soil fumigation, poison baits or insecticides, and consider introducing the parasitoid wasp Larra polita where feasible.
Source: Wikipedia
What crops do they damage?
They gnaw the roots and tubers of wheat, barley, oats, rice, maize, beans, potatoes, sugar beets, sugarcane and many vegetable crops.
Source: Wikipedia
When are they most active?
Adults come to the surface at night, especially in the evenings, and are attracted to lights; mass emergences happen when temperatures reach 12 to 15 °C after winter.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Gryllotalpidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gryllotalpa_orientalis
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.