Glacial Stonefly vs Mormon Cricket

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Glacial Stonefly Mormon Cricket
Scientific Name Leuctra alpina Anabrus simplex
Order Plecoptera Orthoptera
Family Leuctridae Tettigoniidae
Size 6-9 mm body length 30-50 mm
Habitat Mountains Mountains
Diet Detritivores Carrion Feeders
Regions Alps, Pyrenees North America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Glacial Stonefly

A small, slender stonefly found in the coldest alpine headwater streams. Its needle-like wings are rolled tightly around its body at rest.

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Did You Know?

Its rolled-wing resting posture gives the family its common name of needle flies.

Mormon Cricket

A large, flightless shield-backed katydid native to western North America. Despite its name it is not a true cricket but rather a katydid.

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Did You Know?

In 1848 a massive Mormon cricket outbreak threatened settler crops in Utah until flocks of California gulls arrived and devoured them, an event celebrated as the Miracle of the Gulls.