Cricket Species That Eats Anything is Spreading Across The U.S.

A cricket that is capable of eating anything, including members of its own species, is spreading across the U.S., according to a new study.

The greenhouse camel cricket (Diestrammena asynamora) was described in the latest edition of the journal PeerJ.

"The good news is that camel crickets don't bite or pose any kind of threat to humans," Mary Jane Epps, a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State and lead author of the paper, said in a press release.

Epps said she was inspired to study the species after a colleague experienced a chance encounter with one at home. Though the cricket was previously known in the science world, it was believed to be prevalent only in Asia, which is where it comes from, according to the study.

It had only been seen in greenhouses, which is where it gets its name, but now it is being found around North America.

Epps and her colleagues conducted a public survey and determined that the cricket will eat anything, including crickets.

"We don't know what kind of impact this species has on local ecosystems though it's possible that the greenhouse camel cricket could be driving out native camel cricket species in homes," Epps said.

The researchers sampled the yards of 10 homes in Raleigh, N.C. and found large numbers of greenhouse camel crickets. Most of the crickets were found in areas of the yards closest to homes, according to the release.

While conducting research they discovered the possibility of another unusual cricket.

"There appears to be a second Asian species, Diestrammena japanica, that hasn't been formally reported in the U.S. before, but seems to be showing up in homes in the Northeast," Epps said. "However, that species has only been identified based on photos. We'd love to get a physical specimen to determine whether it is D. japanica."

Though the cricket can seem scary, the researchers urge homeowners not to worry.

"Because they are scavengers, camel crickets may actually provide an important service in our basements or garages, eating the dead stuff that accumulates there," said Holly Menninger, director of public science in the Your Wild Life lab at NC State and a co-author of the paper, according to the release.

"We know remarkably little about these camel crickets, such as their biology or how they interact with other species," Menninger added. "We're interested in continuing to study them, and there's a lot to learn."