# What the hell kind of bug is this
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 22, 2008, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028 "2008-10-22T07:08:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/1 "2008-10-22T07:08:10Z")
[Link](http://www.flickr.com/photos/21234489@N08/2963102635/)
I fell asleep on the floor watching TV, and this thing woke me up crawling across my hand. I’m not a scary person but FUCK that’s a big bug.
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### Author:  [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/2 "2008-10-22T07:12:04Z")
looks like what we used to call a “potato bug” though I can’t find anything on Wikipedia (there’s an entry for Potato Beetle but it ain’t it). If my brother were online I could ask him, oh well.
Anyway, they used to end up in the urinals at my high school all the time. They’re harmless to the best of my knowledge, don’t even know if they’re considered a “pest,” really (they don’t eat crops/aren’t poisonous/don’t really bother people)
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/3 "2008-10-22T07:15:03Z")
Hard to tell exactly, but looks to me like either a termite or a carpenter ant.
I notice that there is a lack of a thorax, tho, so I’m going to go with termite.
ETA: [picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mastotermes_darwiniensis.jpg) of a termite
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/4 "2008-10-22T07:15:34Z")
> [@PopeJewish](#):
>
> (… don’t really bother people)
So you say. When I picked it up with a paper towel it made audible biting sounds. Anyway, it bothered me quite a bit.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/5 "2008-10-22T07:17:08Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> Hard to tell exactly, but looks to me like either a termite or a carpenter ant.
I purposely put my fingers in the photo for size comparison.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/6 "2008-10-22T07:20:45Z")
> [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](#):
>
> I purposely put my fingers in the photo for size comparison.
lol yeah but its kind of smashed (don’t blame you for that; I’da done the same)
here’s the wiki on [termites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termite)
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/7 "2008-10-22T07:27:09Z")
[Jerusalem Cricket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket).
Impressively hideous beasties, I’ve always thought.
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### Author:  [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/8 "2008-10-22T07:28:46Z")
It’s the scariest fucking bug around these parts. We colloquially refer to them as Potato Bugs but it appears that they are more properly referred to as the [Jerusalem Cricket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket). You can actually hear them crawl across the room step by step, inch by inch!
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### Author:  [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/9 "2008-10-22T07:29:54Z")
so my brother just came online and he agrees with me, it looks like a Potato Bug (Jerusalem Cricket). They can bite, but they’re not poisonous.
Found it on wikipedia:
> **[Jerusalem cricket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket)**
>
> Jerusalem crickets (or potato bugs) are a group of large, flightless insects in the genera Ammopelmatus and Stenopelmatus, together comprising the tribe Stenopelmatini. The former genus is native to the western United States and parts of Mexico, while the latter genus is from Central America.
> Despite their common names, these insects are neither true crickets (which belong to the family Gryllidae) nor true bugs (which belong to the order Hemiptera), nor are they native to Jerusalem. These noct...
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/10 "2008-10-22T07:35:46Z")
I agree; it looks like a J-Cricket. Note the 2-tone head and the thick rear legs.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/11 "2008-10-22T07:36:21Z")
OK, I’m calmed down a bit but, day-um, that’s the last thing I need waking me up at night. I normally don’t react to bugs by killing them but I hit this thing 3 times with a hammer fist and then got a paper towel and squished it as hard as I could and as I write this the beast is STILL ALIVE! This thing can give a roach a run for it’s money.
ETA: Compared it to the J-Bug, that’s it.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/12 "2008-10-22T10:54:25Z")
Okay, why are pictures of insects on this board always out of focus? Does nobody know how to use their camera properly?
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### Author:  [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/13 "2008-10-22T11:54:56Z")
That’s gotta be the least-accurately named insect ever – it’s neither a bug nor a cricket, doesn’t eat potatoes, and isn’t from Jerusalem.
Impressive beastie, however. Definitely freakout-worthy.
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### Author:  [@dmatsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmatsch)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/14 "2008-10-22T13:40:30Z")
> [@PopeJewish](#):
>
> so my brother just came online and he agrees with me, it looks like a Potato Bug (Jerusalem Cricket). They can bite, but they’re not poisonous.
>
> Found it on wikipedia:
>
> [Jerusalem cricket - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket)
Poisonous \<\> venomous
I, personally think it escaped from his Apple desktop. It’s my personal opinion that there are about 6 of these guys on treadmills and hamster wheels inside the CPU keeping the thing running.
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### Author:  [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/15 "2008-10-22T13:52:57Z")
My mom took one of these J-crickets from one of the dogs a few months ago. The only person around to ask only spoke Spanish, and said that the “niño de la tierra” was venomous, which it’s not. She was worried for a bit until we could find out what it was.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/16 "2008-10-22T13:57:13Z")
> [@dmatsch](#):
>
> Poisonous \<\> venomous
Quite so. Poison is ingested, venom is injected.
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### Author:  [@ebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ebb)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/17 "2008-10-22T18:46:38Z")
For all of your future “what the hell is that” moments, and a bunch of neat pictures besides:
> **[Home - What's That Bug?](http://www.whatsthatbug.com/)**
>
> Message from the Bugman Featured Bugs Whats That Bug Categories
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### Author:  [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/18 "2008-10-22T23:51:25Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> Okay, why are pictures of insects on this board always out of focus? Does nobody know how to use their camera properly?
What the hell are you talking about? There’s a mouse in that photo, and it’s clearly in focus. Mice are insects, right?
ETA: For the first time in my life I possess a point and shoot digital with a macro lens. I have no idea why, but it often has difficulty focusing on exactly what I’m shooting it at. Maybe I’m just getting too damn close, but I can understand why the background is often more in focus than the subject on the boards.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/19 "2008-10-23T00:02:08Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> Okay, why are pictures of insects on this board always out of focus? Does nobody know how to use their camera properly?
1. Didn’t have my glasses on.
2. Vodka
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-kind-of-bug-is-this/469028/20 "2008-10-23T00:36:07Z")
:eek:
I got one answer: High Explosives.
That will solve this problem.
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