A survey of cricket sightings across the United States has found an invasive and, for arachnophobes, unsightly new species proliferating across the East Coast.
The Asian camel cricket, a plump-bodied and spindly-legged species which can grow up to four inches in length and is known to eat just about everything—including its own kind—was present in upwards of 90% of cricket sightings across the U.S., according to the survey results. A single yard in North Carolina, baited with plastic cups with a mixture of molasses and water, turned up 52 specimens over the course of two days.
Researchers were also surprised to identify a second Asian species, Diestrammena japanica, never formally reported in the U.S., turning up in photographs sent in by citizen scientists.
“The good news is that camel crickets don’t bite or pose any kind of threat to humans,” said study author Mary Jane Epps, a researcher at North Carolina State University. “Because they are scavengers, camel crickets may actually provide an important service in our basements or garages, eating the dead stuff that accumulates there.”
The study notes that crickets and humans have shared habitats since at least paleolithic era. One cave painting in France depicts what appears to be a camel cricket, Trogophilus, that was known to dwell in caves alongside human ancestors.
The Asian Camel Cricket and 10 Other Invasive Species You Might Not Know
A Camel Cricket in Massachusetts on Nov. 18 2011. Piotr Naskrecki—CorbisIn the 1970s, catfish farmers used these hardy foreign carp to remove algae from their ponds. But over the decades, floods that caused catfish ponds to overflow have released the species into the Mississippi river basin. Asian carp can grow to 4 ft. (1.2 m) in length and weigh over 100 lb. John Flesher—APRobben Island off South Africa's coast, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years, is now overrun with rabbits. A New York Times report revealed that up until October 2009, rabbits — probably brought to the island 300 years ago by the Dutch — have lived there unchecked, burrowing holes under grassy areas. Robin Hamin—The New York Times/ReduxOriginally introduced to control pests, the cane toad has become a pest of its own. Native to Central America, the toads were brought to Australia in 1935 in an attempt to control the cane beetle population in sugar plantations. Ultimately there was no evidence they killed a single beetle. Instead, the toads took over. Ian Waldie—Getty ImagesSome call it "the vine that ate the South." It grows up to 1 ft. every day in the summer, and can break power lines, kill trees and collapse buildings. Used for decorative and medicinal purposes in Asia, kudzu was first seen in the U.S. when the Japanese made it part of a garden at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. Melissa Farlow—National Geographic/Getty Images ImagesThe deceptively adorable gray squirrel could be the most loathed animal in Britain. Grays, which are native to North America, carry deadly squirrel pox, to which they are immune but native red squirrels are vulnerable. They also eat seven times more food per hectare than their scarlet cousins.Marc Rasmus—Getty ImagesIn 1957, a beekeeper in São Paulo, Brazil, accidentally released 26 Tanzanian queen bees who went on to launch an agricultural calamity, a horror-movie franchise and a whole new level of melissophobia. The queens mated with native European honeybees to create so-called killer bees, or Africanized bees.Kevin Schafer—CorbisIn 1890, New York drug manufacturer Eugene Schieffelin released some 60 European starlings in Central Park. Now the purple-green birds roost in hordes of up to 1 million; they can devour up to 20 tons of potatoes in one day and their droppings are believed to be vectors of several infectious diseases. Menahem Kahana—AFP/Getty ImagesThe northern snakehead fish has teeth like a shark and the ability to walk on land. The carnivorous fish hails from Asia but in 2002 it appeared in a small Maryland town, where it promptly obliterated wildlife in the local pond. "Fishzilla" has been spotted everywhere from New York to California.
Kim Hairston—Baltimore Sun/Getty ImagesZebra mussels, an invasive species native to the Caspian Sea, are thought to have hitched a ride to the midwestern Great Lakes in the late 1980s by clinging to the hulls of U.S.–bound European vessels. The unwelcome visitors, which have since spread east to New England, are known to feed on the phytoplankton.Visuals Unlimited/CorbisThe snake craze among American pet owners in the mid-1990s grew out of control when python owners began releasing the 20-ft. creatures into the wild once they became too big for their tanks. Unlike many domesticated animals who can't survive in the wild, the pythons have thrived and multiplied, particularly in the Everglades.Wayne Lynch—All Canada Photos/Getty Images
