Mole Crickets, Gryllotalpidae, are burrowing insects related to Grasshoppers and True Crickets. They dig extensive tunnel systems, which in places can cause erosion and habitat destruction. Mole Crickets are fairly common on all continents except Antarctica, though they are seldom seen or recognized due to their subterranean lifestyle. Temperate species are usually capable of hibernating in winter.
In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 27 April 2012, Fernando Rodríguez of the Grupo de Investigación en Artrópodos at the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, and Sam Heads of the Illinois Natural History Survey at the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, describe two new species of Mole Cricket from Columbia.
Both new species are place in the previously described genus Scapteriscus, a genus native to South America, but which has at least three species that have been introduced to the United States, where they are considered to be destructive pests.
The first species described is given the specific name cerberus, after the mythical dog that supposedly guarded the gates to the Underworld. Scapteriscus cerberus is a 28-35 mm robust, brown Mole Cricket with particularly large digging claws and reduced hind wings.
Scapteriscus cerberus, in ventral (top) and dorsal (bottom) views. Scale bars represent 1 mm. Rodríguez and Heads (2012).
The second species described is given the specific name zeuneri, in honour of Frederick Eberhard Zeuner, a noted entomologist who carried out a lot of work on Mole Crickets in the mid twentieth century. Scapteriscus zeuneri is a 41 mm Mole Cricket with a prominent dark patch on its head and well developed wings.
Scapteriscus zeuneri, in ventral (top) and dorsal (bottom) views. Scale bars represent 1 mm. Rodríguez and Heads (2012).
See also Four new species of Katydid from Singapore and Malaysia, New species of Bush Cricket from the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, An early Cricket from southeast India and What Jurassic Katydids did.
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