Acanthoplus discoidalis
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Acanthoplus discoidalis is a species in the Hetrodinae, a subfamily of the bush cricket or katydid family. Like its closest relatives, Acanthoplus discoidalis variously bears common names such as armoured katydid, armoured ground cricket, armoured bush cricket, corn cricket, setotojane and koringkriek. The species is native to parts of Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Acanthoplus discoidalis is a wide-bodied, flightless species that typically grows to a body length of about 5 cm/1.95 inches. The pronotum bears several sharp, conical spines. The mandibles, or main biting jaws, are powerful; they can inflict a painful nip and they permit the insect to feed on material such as tough herbage or carrion. Another defense against predators is reflex bleeding (also called "autohaemorrhaging") in which the insects squirt haemolymph from pores in their exoskeleton, achieving a range of a few centimetres.
Acanthoplus discoidalis is omnivorous and feeds opportunistically on many different foods. One source documented attacks on red-billed quelea nestlings and suggested that the insects might be able to detect the nests by auditory clues.
Especially... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 2 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 5 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Armoured Corncricket sighting in Namib-Naukluft National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 36th most-seen of the 60 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and July
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Armoured Corncricket in Namib-Naukluft National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, August and October–March, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Armoured Corncricket sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Brown Armoured Corncricket sightings, Namib-Naukluft National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 30%), Kruger National Park (South Africa, about 10%) and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Armoured Corncricket is recorded against all the insects logged in Namib-Naukluft National Park (12 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
