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Plight of the Cricket
Every spring eggs of the Mormon cricket, Anabrus simplex, hatch from below the soil surface and begin feeding on various foliage. Their host range is very large (>400 species of plants) and biologists refer to this type of species as generalists, as they eat almost anything. Mormon crickets received their common name in the 19th century as their population built up and invaded agricultural lands that were farmed by Mormon settlers in the Great Salt Lake Basin in Utah, who gave them their official common name.
Though their name suggests they are a cricket, entomologists have classified them in the katydid/long-horned grasshopper family (Tettigoniidae) with the scientific name Anabrus simplex… the “not graceful flat-faced insect” a rough translation from Greek—Latin—English. There are several other species within this genus, Anabrus, in Idaho and across the western states.For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition.