What kind of bug is this?

October 23, 2007 5:27 PM

Does anyone have any idea what kind of bug this is? Located in Los Angeles, last night.
posted by rollo tomassi to pets & animals (10 comments total)

Jerusalem cricket.
posted by veronitron at 5:31 PM on October 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

AKA potato bug. But not a true bug, nor a true cricket, nor do they prefer potatoes.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 5:37 PM on October 23, 2007

Thanks for the quick answers!
posted by rollo tomassi at 5:38 PM on October 23, 2007

http://www.potatobugs.com/

Q: I have potato bugs in my vegetable garden. How can I rid myself of these pesky critters?

A: Drench your entire yard with gasoline and set it ablaze. Once the fire has burned itself out and the ground has cooled, cultivate the soil to a depth of seven feet, saturate the area with battery acid and top the surface with gasoline. After a few minutes, most of the surviving potato bugs, now irritated, will burrow up for air. Set the yard on fire again, and let it burn itself out. The remaining bugs should be crisped. Add water. Only then, and only maybe, will you rid yourself of potato bugs.
posted by Charlie Lesoine at 5:39 PM on October 23, 2007

Previous AskMe fun here and here. There's apparently a dedicated site for them. I first saw one in LA years and years ago, and like pretty much everybody else immediately wondered if they weren't some kind of harbinger of the apocalypse. It didn't help that when I asked some locals what in the hell that thing was, they replied with the rather spooky/mystic "niño de la tierra" (this was a predominantly latino community). Apparently they're not even particularly pestilential, though. Just spooky.
posted by weston at 5:48 PM on October 23, 2007

We also call them "cara de niño" (child's face) in Mexico.
posted by clearlydemon at 6:01 PM on October 23, 2007

I've heard them called child's face bug, (see clearlydemon).
posted by 6:1 at 7:02 PM on October 23, 2007

I haven't seen one of those potato bugs in our fair city since I was a kid. Awww [feeling nostalgic]. Thanks for posting.
posted by HotPatatta at 10:05 PM on October 23, 2007

Most folks call it a potato bug, some call it a babyface and the bookish might call it a Jerusalem cricket. I sometimes till up young ones and they are sort of white and larval in a hard to define potato-ish sort of way. some folks hate them but I have never met anyone hurt by one.
posted by Iron Rat at 10:24 PM on October 23, 2007

Also called a "Child of the Earth"
posted by clanger at 10:49 AM on October 24, 2007