Mormon cricket

📖Overview

Anabrus simplex, the Mormon cricket, is a large shield-backed katydid native to western North America. It is well known for forming dense, marching bands or swarms during outbreak years; these groups can travel long distances while foraging and strip vegetation. Adults are mostly flightless or have reduced wings, and both nymphs and adults are omnivorous, eating grasses, crops, forbs, seeds, insects and even dead conspecifics. Outbreaks are periodic and driven by climatic conditions, habitat and population dynamics.

Although called a "cricket," it belongs to the shield-backed katydid group (family Tettigoniidae). It can be a serious rangeland and crop pest when populations are high, but it is not dangerous to humans: it does not have venom and rarely causes more than a painful nip if handled. Management during outbreaks uses a mix of cultural measures, exclusion and, in agricultural settings, targeted control advised by local extension services.

🔍How to identify a Mormon cricket

Adults are robust, elongate insects with a pronounced dorsal pronotal "shield" that extends over the abdomen. They vary in color from dark brown to black, sometimes with reddish, orange or yellow tinges, and may show lighter markings on the legs or thorax. Wings are generally reduced; most adults are flightless, with wing pads or short wings that do not support flight. Females have a long, sword-like ovipositor for laying eggs in soil. Males have short, stubby wings under the shield that they use to sing, not fly. Nymphs resemble adults but are smaller, wingless and often more uniformly colored.

1. Large, robust katydid with a pronounced shield-like pronotum extending over the abdomen
2. Typically dark brown to black or reddish-brown and usually flightless with reduced wings
3. Females have a long, sword-like ovipositor extending beyond the abdomen tip
4. Often encountered in dense groups or marching bands rather than singly during outbreaks

Lookalikes

↻Life cycle

1. 🥚

   Egg

   Laid in soil in fall by females using the ovipositor; eggs overwinter in diapause and hatch in spring when conditions are favorable.

2. 🦗

   Nymph

   Several nymphal instars occur through spring and summer. Nymphs are wingless, gregarious and often form marching bands that feed together.

3. 🦗

   Adult

   Adults appear in mid to late summer, mate, and females lay eggs in soil in late summer or fall; most individuals die after reproduction.

🍃Diet and predators

🌱Effect on plants and gardens

Feeding can defoliate grasses, forbs, crops and seedlings; heavy outbreaks can reduce forage for livestock and damage agricultural plantings.

How to get rid of Mormon crickets

During outbreaks, mix tactics: use exclusion (fences, barriers) to protect small areas, remove egg-laying habitat near critical fields, and consult local agricultural extension about approved control methods. In large infestations, land managers may use targeted insecticides or baits applied by professionals. Avoid ad hoc pesticide use without guidance; trapping and manually sweeping small numbers into a bucket can work for localized problems.

📍Where and when to find it

Look in sagebrush steppe, rangeland, fields, roadsides and gardens; nymphs and adults are often on the ground, on vegetation or moving in groups. Eggs are in soil and not easily seen.

✨Fun facts

• Called "Mormon cricket" after early Mormon settlers in Utah who experienced destructive outbreaks, not because it is a true cricket.
• They can form long marching bands that chew vegetation and may travel several kilometers in search of food.
• Cannibalism can occur in dense groups—individuals will eat dead or injured conspecifics, which can drive further movement of the group.

?Frequently asked questions

📷Photos of the Mormon cricket