This beautiful flightless Jerusalem Cricket is not venomous, but they are capable of inflicting a painful bite. It belongs with the genera Ammopelmatus and Stenopelmatus, together comprising the subfamily Stenopelmatinae. The former genus is native to the western United States and parts of Mexico, and the latter is from Central America. People have given them different names: potato bug, stone cricket, and sand cricket, child of the earth, shiny bug, and red skull. Today they are most commonly named Jerusalem crickets. This insect’s given name is not matching with their appearance. Their bodies resemble a Jerusalem Cross, and also their diet includes Jerusalem artichokes. Therefore, we can guess how they got the name of Jerusalem Cricket. The genus Stenopelamtus is a relatively understudied group of insects native to the Western United States and Mexico. Some entomologists estimate that there may be 100 or more species, but all have not been discovered yet.

These insects spend most of their time burrowing in the soil, and they are primarily nocturnal. They can emit a foul smell. Jerusalem cricket produces a different song during mating, and it beats its abdomen against the ground when it is doing. You can see few clicks of Jerusalem Cricket below.

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