Silhouette: Didier Descouens · PhyloPic
Neoscapteriscus vicinus
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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. North American mole cricket taxonomists agreed with his decision and altered Orthoptera Species File Online accordingly.
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. 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... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
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More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Mole Cricket sighting in Orlando on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 104th most-seen of the 294 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Mole Cricket in Orlando on a given day, against under 5% in May–August and October–February, the lowest months.
Yes
Of the 3 cities where we can rate Tawny Mole Cricket sightings, Orlando has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Houston (United States, under 5%) and Miami (United States, under 5%).
Same order: Orthoptera
The closest relatives of the Tawny Mole Cricket that you can see in Orlando (order Orthoptera, Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids) are Eastern Lubber Grasshopper (about 30%), Broad-Tipped Conehead (about 10%) and Short-Winged Green Grasshopper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tawny Mole Cricket is recorded against all the insects logged in Orlando (18 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
