# What the freakin' F was that?!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 30, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290 "2005-08-30T17:54:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/1 "2005-08-30T17:54:54Z")
☹
There’s something in my store and I don’t know what it is.
No, this is not a play on the other thread - I’m seriously wigged out and would like someone to tell me what that was!
Pertinent info:
I’m in N. Florida
It’s a little insect of sorts.
It looked like a combination cricket/house fly - When it was walking across my counter, it had huge back legs like a cricket and looked like something on top in between went up and down as it walk, but it was kind of sloped forward as it looked to have four shorter, skinny front legs. It appeared to have fly-looking wings on its back.
It was black.
I could try google and spend my afternoon looking at insect pics, but no thanky.
I tried to capture it under my cup and accidentally hurt it. ☹
I was going to sweep it onto the floor and finish the job, but it flew off and I don’t know where it went. :eek:
:shiver:
help!
---
### Author:  [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/2 "2005-08-30T17:58:38Z")
IT’S BACK AND IT HAS ANTENNAS!!
It’s also smaller than I initially thought. :o
---
### Author:  [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/3 "2005-08-30T18:04:14Z")
We have those here. In fact I saw a couple the other day and…and…oh no!..here they come…hundreds…thousands…
akjfhdkjaf…
I regret nothing…
---
### Author:  [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/4 "2005-08-30T18:14:30Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#):
>
> I regret nothing…
I’ll make sure that gets put on your tombstone. :dubious:
I have captured it under a CD stack cover, so I can keep an eye on it.
It doesn’t look hurt now. 😕
It’s sitting there rubbing some legs over its head, staring at me. :eek:
---
### Author:  [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/5 "2005-08-30T18:16:43Z")
The answer is quite obvious. It’s an alien scout sent to observe us, and now that you have trapped it the fleet has been signalled, and the fate of our planet is sealed.
---
### Author:  [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/6 "2005-08-30T18:22:18Z")
So…what?
I should go ahead and squoosh it to show the alien invaders we are the more powerful species?
It’s got a really small body for all those legs. I saw it on the wall yesterday and thought it might be a spider. I went to get my 10-foot pole to whack it, but missed. I wasn’t too worried when it flew off then as I thought it must be a regular ol’ creature.
It wasn’t until it came crawling across my desk that I got a good(ish) look at it and tried to capture it under my cup.
---
### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/7 "2005-08-30T19:14:50Z")
Might be a Katydid or Midas fly. Comparative pics [here](http://www.whatsthatbug.com/katy.html).
Sailboat
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/8 "2005-08-30T19:23:47Z")
I think **harmless** has been visited by a variety of [locust](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Locusts/Images/locust_comparison.jpg).
---
### Author:  [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/9 "2005-08-30T19:47:19Z")
Here’s a[quick crappy sketch](http://fwww.suzi-quzi.com/bug.GIF) done in paint of my visitor.
The “Moves when walking” bit goes up and down with each step.
I tried to show what the wings look like…that’d be the gray blob on its back.
The four front legs were skinnier looking, about like a spiders would be.
Bleah.
---
### Author:  [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/10 "2005-08-30T19:54:57Z")
Not sure about those hind legs, but could it be a [salmonfly](http://www.lancecampbell.com/misc2/images/salmonfly.jpg)? Ugly, but no danger to anyone.
---
### Author:  [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/11 "2005-08-30T20:16:37Z")
Or maybe a [tree cricket](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bugguide.net/images/cache/RZ6LYLELIZTZ2RSHERSHXRFZJLFZ2RSHIZ0H7RJZXRPLRZYZERBLERRH5RTL7ZTLXZQHIRULFLCZRZCLKZVLER.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bugguide.net/node/view/106/bgimage&h=99&w=125&sz=16&tbnid=-tiiJToqpCkJ:&tbnh=66&tbnw=84&hl=en&start=10&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblack%2Bkatydids%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1%26sa%3DG)?
---
### Author:  [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/12 "2005-08-30T20:19:23Z")
Let’s try that link again! [Black Horned Tree Cricket](http://tamstuart.com/Slide%20Show%202003/images/Black-Horned%20Tree%20Cricket%206731.jpg).
---
### Author:  [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/13 "2005-08-30T20:44:45Z")
Ick, ick, ick, ick, maybe.
It was completely black (eyes included) with clear wings.
My boss came by in the meantime and he said it looked like some form of a cricket, but nothing he’d ever seen before.
I almost killed a baby almost-cricket. ☹
It has been released back into the outdoors.
---
### Author:  [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/14 "2005-08-30T20:46:29Z")
Hows about a [camel back cricket](http://www.bosspestcontrol.com/occasionalinvaders.htm#cricket)? Also known, on this page at least, as a Cave Cricket.
---
### Author:  [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/15 "2005-08-30T20:54:47Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#):
>
> Hows about a [camel back cricket](http://www.bosspestcontrol.com/occasionalinvaders.htm#cricket)? Also known, on this page at least, as a Cave Cricket.
Although the picture linked is not solid black, they do come that way. The Cave Cricket was going to be my guess, too.
---
### Author:  [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-freakin-f-was-that/319290/16 "2005-08-30T21:45:54Z")
Considering our location that would make sense. 😃
Everyone can stand down from Red Alert; world domination has been avoided.
At least it wasn’t a Kricket.
d&r