Neoscapteriscus vicinus

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Tawny mole cricket
Scapteriscus vicinus.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Family: Gryllotalpidae
Genus: Neoscapteriscus
Species:
N. vicinus
Binomial name
Neoscapteriscus vicinus
(Scudder, 1869) [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Neoscapteriscus agassizii (Scudder, 1869)
  • Scapteriscus vicinus (Scudder, 1869)

Neoscapteriscus vicinus, commonly known as the tawny mole cricket, is a species of insect in the mole cricket family, Gryllotalpidae. This species is native to South America and also occurs in the Southern United States, where it arrived as a contaminant of ship's ballast around 1900. Colombian insect taxonomist Oscar Cadena-Castañeda studied specimens of the genus which had been called Scapteriscus, and decided that it included two groups; a smaller group (the true Scapteriscus) and a larger group that he named Neoscapteriscus (a new genus) in 2015. [2] North American mole cricket taxonomists agreed with his decision and altered Orthoptera Species File Online accordingly.

Contents

Description

Neoscapteriscus vicinus N.vicinus.tif
Neoscapteriscus vicinus

N. vicinus is a medium-sized mole cricket. Members of this genus are characterized by having two sharp claws and a blade-like process with a sharp edge on their fore legs. Other mole crickets have three or four claws. [3] Its colour is yellowish-brown with a dark prothorax. It can be differentiated from the rather similar Neoscapteriscus borellii by the two claws that are almost touching at the base, whereas in N. borellii, they are widely separated. The song of N.vicinus, produced only by the males, is a loud trill with a frequency of 130 Hz. [4]

Distribution and habitat

N. vicinus is native to South America. Since arriving in the United States, it has increased its range, which now extends from North Carolina to Louisiana and the whole of Florida, and west to Texas. Though thought of primarily as a pest of turf and grassland, it also damages many crop plants, including tomatoes, strawberries, vegetables, peanuts, sugarcane, tobacco, and ornamental plants. [4]

Ecology

The tawny mole cricket burrows in sandy soil, creating galleries, usually in the upper 25 cm (10 in), the depth depending on the temperature and soil moisture content. In Florida, the adults are active in spring and again in autumn, completing a single lifecycle during the summer and overwintering as a large nymph. N. vicinus is herbivorous and feeds on the roots and young shoots of plants, and also causes damage to plants through its burrowing activities. Breeding takes place in spring and autumn, with the male calling soon after sunset to attract a female. After copulation, the female lays between 25 and 60 eggs in an underground chamber, the entrance to which is then blocked with soil. The eggs hatch about 3 weeks later. The nymphs take several months to develop fully, passing through eight to 10 moults. [5]

In an attempt to reduce the damage done by Neocapteriscus mole crickets in Florida, biological pest control has been attempted using natural enemies introduced from South America. It was considered to have been achieved by 2004, when the program at the University of Florida was shut down. In 2006, a summary publication announced success: a 95% reduction in mole cricket numbers in northern Florida, with biological control agents spreading potentially to all parts of Florida. [6] Larra bicolor is a parasitoid wasp which deposits eggs on adult mole crickets. [7] [8] The fly Ormia depleta acts in a similar manner, laying eggs on them [9] in both cases, the developing larvae devour the tissues of the host. The mole cricket nematode (Steinernema scapterisci) liberates a bacterium which causes sepsis and death to its host mole cricket. [4]

In 2016, a graduate student in economics and her committee published an economic analysis of the entire 25-year biological control program. Part of the balance sheet (input) was salaries and equipment and supplies, and part (output) was reduction in damage by mole crickets to cattle pastures determined by a survey of ranchers throughout Florida. [10] A cost/benefit ratio of 1/52 was calculated. This did not take into account the benefit to turf grass (lawns, playing fields, and golf courses), to vegetable production, or to any areas outside Florida.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mole cricket</span> Members of the insect family Gryllotalpidae

Mole crickets are members of the insect family Gryllotalpidae, in the order Orthoptera. Mole crickets are cylindrical-bodied, fossorial insects about 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long as adults, with small eyes and shovel-like fore limbs highly developed for burrowing. They are present in many parts of the world and where they have arrived in new regions, may become agricultural pests.

<i>Ormia ochracea</i> Species of fly

Ormia ochracea is a small yellow nocturnal fly in the family Tachinidae. It is notable for its parasitism of crickets and its exceptionally acute directional hearing. The female is attracted to the song of the male cricket and deposits larvae on or around him, as was discovered in 1975 by the zoologist William H. Cade.

<i>Ormia</i> Genus of flies

Ormia is a small genus of nocturnal flies in the family Tachinidae, that are parasitoids of crickets. The genus occurs throughout the Americas.

<i>Anthonomus eugenii</i> Species of beetle

Anthonomus eugenii is known as the pepper weevil. This beetle feeds and lays eggs on plants in the genus Capsicum and a few species in the genus Solanum. A. eugenii is native to Mexico, however, it is an important pest of Capsicum in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Central America.

<i>Larra</i> (wasp) Genus of insects

Larra, also known as mole cricket wasps or mole cricket hunters, is a genus of wasps that prey on various species of mole crickets. They have gained prominence as integrated pest management agents.

<i>Larra bicolor</i> Species of wasp

Larra bicolor is a parasitoid wasp native to South America. It was introduced into Florida as a biological pest control of invasive mole crickets.

<i>Chloridea virescens</i> Species of moth

Chloridea virescens, commonly known as the tobacco budworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae found throughout the eastern and southwestern United States along with parts of Central America and South America.

Sam W. Heads is a British palaeontologist, a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, as well as a former Officer and Editor-in-Chief at the Orthopterists' Society.

<i>Gryllotalpa orientalis</i> Species of cricket-like animal

Gryllotalpa orientalis is a species of mole cricket in the family Gryllotalpidae, commonly known as the oriental mole cricket. It is found in much of Asia and Australasia. At one time, this species was misidentified as G. africana and thought to have a widespread distribution in both Africa and Asia, but in the 1980s, G. orientalis was recognised as a separate species. It is a polyphagous pest, damaging crops by gnawing their roots.

Pheropsophus aequinoctialis is a species of ground beetle from Central and South America that feeds as larvae on the eggs of mole crickets but as an adult is a generalist feeder.

<i>Gryllus rubens</i> Species of cricket

Gryllus rubens, commonly known as the southeastern field cricket, is one of many cricket species known as a field cricket. It occurs throughout most of the Southeastern United States. Its northern range spans from southern Delaware to the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas, with a southern range stretching from Florida to eastern Texas.

<i>Scapteriscus</i> Genus of cricket-like animals

Scapteriscus is a genus of insects in the family Gryllotalpidae, the mole crickets. Members of the genus are called two-clawed mole crickets. They are native to South America. Some species have arrived in other regions, including parts of North America, where some have become invasive and have become established as pests.

Steinernema scapterisci, the mole cricket nematode, is a species of nematode in the order Rhabditida. It is a parasite of insects in the order Orthoptera, the grasshoppers, crickets and their allies. Native to southern South America, it was introduced into Florida in the United States in an effort to provide a biological control of pest (Neoscapteriscus) mole crickets.

Ormia depleta, sometimes called the Brazilian red-eyed fly, is a species of fly in the family Tachinidae. It is a parasitoid of mole crickets in the genus Scapteriscus. It is native to South America but has been imported into the United States and elsewhere as a biological pest control agent.

<i>Scapteriscus borellii</i> Species of cricket-like animal

Scapteriscus borellii, the southern mole cricket, is a species of insect in the family Gryllotalpidae. It is native to South America but is also present in the southern United States where it was introduced around 1900.

Scapteriscus abbreviatus, the short-winged mole cricket, is a species of insect in the mole cricket family, Gryllotalpidae. It is native to South America but has been introduced inadvertently into Florida, in the United States. Unlike other related species, it is unable to fly, nor do the males emit songs in order to attract females.

<i>Larra anathema</i> Species of wasp

Larra anathema is a species of parasitoid wasps belonging to the family Crabronidae. It is the type species of the genus Larra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand mole cricket</span> Species of cricket-like animal

The New Zealand mole cricket is a wingless member of the mole cricket family Gryllotalpidae. Endemic to New Zealand, it lives underground and is rarely seen. It is now restricted to parts of the southern North Island.

Neoscapteriscus borellii, the southern mole cricket, is a species of mole cricket in the family Gryllotalpidae.

<i>Neoscapteriscus</i> Genus of cricket-like animals

Neoscapteriscus is a genus of two-clawed mole crickets in the family Gryllotalpidae. At least 23 described species are placed in Neoscapteriscus.

References

  1. 1 2 "Species Neoscapteriscus vicinus (Scudder, 1869)". Orthoptera Species File (Version 5.0/5.0). Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  2. ↑ Cadena-Castañeda, O.J. (2015). "The phylogeny of mole crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpoidea: Gryllotalpidae)". Zootaxa. pp. 451–490).{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  3. ↑ Rodríguez F., Heads S. (2012). "New mole crickets of the genus Scapteriscus Scudder from Colombia (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae; Scapteriscinae)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3282: 61–68.
  4. 1 2 3 Capinera, John L.; Leppla, Norman C. (2013-10-01). "Shortwinged mole cricket, Southern mole cricket, Tawny mole cricket". Featured creatures. University of Florida. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  5. ↑ Weed, Aaron Scott (2003). Reproductive strategy of Pheropsophus aequinoctialis L.: fecundity, fertility, and oviposition behavior; and influence of mole cricket egg chamber depth on larval survival (PDF) (M.S. thesis). University of Florida.
  6. ↑ Frank, J.H.; Walker, T.J. (2006). "Permanent control of pest mole crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae: Scapteriscus) in Florida" (PDF). American Entomologist. 52: 138-144.
  7. ↑ Castner, J. L. (1988) Biology of the mole cricket parasitoid Larra bicolor (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) pp. 423-432, In Gupta, V. K. (ed.) Advances in Parasitic Hymenoptera Research. Brill; Leiden, 546 pp.
  8. ↑ Portman, S. L.; Frank, J. H; McSorley, R.; Leppla, N. C. (2009). "Fecundity of Larra bicolor (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) and its implications in parasitoid: host interaction with mole crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae: Scapteriscus)". Florida Entomologist. 92: 58–63. doi: 10.1653/024.092.0110 .
  9. ↑ Frank, J.H.; Walker, T.J.; Parkman, J.P. (1996). "The introduction, establishment and spread of Ormia depleta in Florida". Biological Control. 6: 368–377. doi:10.1006/bcon.1996.0047.
  10. ↑ Mhina, G.J.; et al. (2016). "Cost effectiveness of biological control of invasive mole crickets in Florida pastures". Biological Control. 100: 108–115. doi: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2016.05.017 .
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