DEAR JOAN: Is this of interest? I recently found a large, yellow cricket, and my research says it’s from South America. It’s a couple inches long.
— Fred, Los Altos
DEAR FRED: Based on the description and the photo you sent, the cricket you found is commonly called a Jerusalem cricket, also known as a potato bug, and native to the Western U.S. and Mexico.
Its scientific name is Stenopelmatus fuscus, but where I grew up in New Mexico, we called them Niña de la Tierra, or child of the Earth. The Navajo people have several names for them, including red-skull and skull insect.
The Jerusalem cricket is common in California, although I’d hazard a guess that not many Bay Area denizens have seen them. The creatures burrow into the soil and only rarely come out, usually after a heavy rain.
The potato bug isn’t a true bug or a cricket, nor is it native to Jerusalem. It’s thought that Franciscan priests working on a Navajo dictionary misunderstood the name “skull insect” and thought the name was a reference to Skull Hill, or Calvary, near Jerusalem.
Whatever you call it, the Jerusalem cricket is fairly harmless. They eat dead and decaying plant matter and other insects. They are not venomous, although if you pick one up, it likely will emit a strong, unpleasant smell.
DEAR JOAN: I was walking in a parking lot and came across a spider putting along. I’ve asked people, and nobody knows what kind it is. It’s about 3 inches with a yellow or gold spot on its back. Can you ID him?
— Don, Mountain View
DEAR DON: Your pedestrian spider is a tarantula, likely a California black tarantula, but it might also be a desert tarantula. Both live in the Bay Area.
Tarantulas spend most of their lives in burrows underground, but in the fall, the males venture out in search of a mate. After sealing the deal with a female, they die shortly afterward. Bummer. Prime mating season is early September to mid October.
DEAR JOAN: This morning as I sat drinking my coffee on the patio, enjoying the cooler weather, I noticed an opossum in the corner of the yard. It was kind of scratching and digging in the vegetable garden that I had recently cleared.
I don’t mind it being there, but I thought most wild animals only came out at night. Should I be concerned about the opossum? Is it sick or maybe have rabies? Why would nocturnal animals be out in the day?
— Jeff C., Oakland
DEAR JEFF: Let me ask, do you sometimes like to go out to dinner at night or maybe to a movie? We all do, even though humans are classified as diurnal, meaning we are active in the daytime and asleep at night.
No one worries about our health, if they see us out after dark, and the same goes for opossums and other nocturnal animals who may be out and about during the day. Generally, they follow their internal clock, but sometimes they have a need to venture out in the light of day.
If your opossum wasn’t showing any signs of illness, it probably was just out hunting for some food.
Animal Life runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at [email protected].
