Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Sand-gropers!



In the run-up to City Daily Photo's June theme day 'Nature' I thought I might show you a bit of WA nature that greeted me outside my front door yesterday morning! The Sandgroper, a subterranean insect, some species endemic to WA, is a sweet little bug don't you think.. I'm kidding, check it out here if you dare :) As I'm typing now I can hear the sandgropers in my garden chirping away and that's fine, it's not unpleasant to listen to, a bit like crickets or frogs.. BUT if they lose their way and come inside eeeew! Imagine this crawling on you! They can grow to 7cm long, this beauty below was about half that size. So.. are you still coming to visit :) Happy Tuesday, take care and stay safe.. P.s. they don't bite! P.p.s. is this what you all thought when you read the title :)


30 comments:

  1. It looks like something out of the Alien movies.

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  2. That's their name...I thought they were some sort of cockroach...scary!!

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  3. That's the kind of bug that makes me scream when I see it! Yikes!

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  4. Lol. The June bugs have started here. Big things that are out at night. You can hear the bounce off the windows if the light is on in the room.

    Ewwww...

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  5. This guy reminds me a lot of our big Florida cockroaches! Ugh. But they find their way into a house with no problem. Our cats chase 'em and kill 'em though. Which is nice!

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  6. looks like Mole cricket... well known pest in my country!

    xoxo, Juliana | PJ’ Happies :)

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  7. Now that is a unique insect, but then WA has all sorts of interesting fauna not found around here. Just hoping they stay in their native territory. So, what did you do with it when you were finished photographing it?

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  8. It doesn't look so scary on your photos, but 7 cm is quite big! ;)

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  9. Yikes! Never seen such a thing. please keep those down there!

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  10. ...sweet! You must be kidding!

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  11. It makes for a very interesting photo, doesn't it, Grace. In reality if it was in my house, I would have to show him the exit or I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing it is crawling around somewhere.

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  12. Well all I can say about this little guy is "ick"! I am used to bugs though since I live in Florida, but that doesn't mean I like them or want them in my house.

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  13. Bite of not, I don't like the look of the front claws. We make up for them with our mosquitoes, the national bird of most of the United States.

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  14. I didn't know it was the name of a creature. I thought it was just a name for you lot out west.

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  15. We have them in our garden here in Landsdale (Perth) but I have only seen one. I went out without turning on the light and I don't know who screamed the loudest - the sandgroper or me! Thanks for the photo, Grace.

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  16. I must admit my mind went elsewhere with the "Sand Groper" title!!

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  17. He doesn't look so dangerous or creepy to me, but I can imagine when you hve it in your home it is less pleasant. Have never seen one before.

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  18. Hi Grace
    I wouldn't want of those greeting me on my doorstep.
    Cheers Joe.

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  19. Ewww, Grace, you really should put up a warning sign, too!
    But yes, we were confronted with quite a big of your range there...
    To be honest... if I´d known about all those icky insects I would´ve refused to come. Ingo is a wise man, not having said a word!

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  20. Yuck, this reminds me of "Parktown prawns" which is a common name for Libanasidus vittatus, a species of king cricket endemic to Southern Africa. It is unrelated to prawns, Libanasidus being insects in the order Orthoptera. They are horrible and if you kill them they stink!!!

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    1. I'm from SA and had my fair share of run ins with HUGE Parktown Prawns! they are extremmmely gross! even had one in my bed once that crawled into my hair ! almost had a heart attack!

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  21. Yikes! Not my idea of cute! But your capture is perfect.

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  22. was my lucky day yesterday, a sandgroper about 7cm long visited my guests and I outside by the pool! yikes!!

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