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In the past decades scientists must have overlooked camel crickets, but as per the results of a new citizen science project that was released on the 2nd of September, humans are outnumbered by insects in the U.S.
As per the study, it was found that Camel Cricket species from Asia is more common in American basements as compared to native variety. The study was kick started when an invasive camel cricket was found in the home of a fellow researcher by a cricket taxonomist at North Carolina State University. Camel crickets are also known as cave crickets, spider crickets and sprickets. They have long hind legs and an arched back.
The ones that scientists expect to find in North America are mottled brown in color and are thick bodied. Diestrammena asynamora, an invasive species of camel cricket from Asia became established in U.S in the 19th century. It was dubbed as greenhouse camel cricket and scientists thought it was rarely found outside greenhouses. There is a banded pattern on the legs and it seems to be more slender as compared to American counterpart.
For determining the commonness of kinds of camel crickets today, Menninger and her colleagues turned to the public. Physical specimens and photos of camel crickets that live in and around U.S homes were solicited. Aspiring scientists were asked to fill out a survey on camel cricket sightings, when they enrolled for an unrelated study on microbial diversity of households. There was an open survey on the website of researchers. Most of these cricket observations were reported on the east of Mississippi River.
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