Ironic cricket

On the day when the Australian cricket team had the worst result in over 100 years I thought it was a bit ironic to post a photo of a wingless King Cricket, especially as South Africa, whose team gave us a drubbing, is also well known for species of King Crickets. This is one of the 15 species in the family Stenopelmatidae that are found in Australia. They are related to the Wetas of NZ and the King Crickets of SA, others are found in South America. The largest in Oz is the Giant King Cricket which can grow up to 100mm and is found in Queensland and NSW rain forests. This particular species is not that uncommon is our area and often found under logs or in any convenient dark nook around the house where their extremely long antennae (over double their body length) may give them away. I had just put this one outside after it was found in the kitchen. They have very powerful jaws that can give a bit of a nip and as hunters have been known to overpower the deadly Funnel-web spider.