The Mormon Cricket is a large insect that can grow up to 3 inches in length and is flightless.
The males of this species chirp and the females have a long ovipositor that looks like a stinger, but its not. It actually allows females to push thru dirt so they can lay their eggs under the soils surface. The eggs will lay dormant over the winter & once spring arrives they emerge (with all of the new plant growth).
The Mormon Cricket eats over 400 types of plant matter such as grass & sage brush, but they can eat a variety of other plants including our food crops which can be devastating. They thrive on protein & salt and will occasionally turn to cannibalism when plant food resources are short.
Mormon Crickets swarm in large groups with numbers up in the thousands. In these large numbers Mormon Crickets can contribute to poor water quality, soil erosion & depleting the soil of its nutrients. When they swarm over roads & our vehicles crush them, they leave the roads slick & dangerous to humans.
Mormon Crickets can travel up to 1 mile in a day and up to 50 miles in a season.