Mormon cricket

6118   Hello! I found this guy outside of Pilot Butte, Saskatchewan in the middle of August on a cool cloudy day around 10AM. It was about 1-1/4″ long from the end of the stinger to it’s head. Would love to know what it is!! Thanks!

This appears to be a female Mormon cricket, Anabrus simplex (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) – see https://tinyurl.com/ydh24fee for an image. The ‘stinger’ is its ovipositor, used to insert its eggs into soil. Although called a cricket, this insect actually belongs to a group known as shield-backed katydids; see https://tinyurl.com/ycwdxf8v for more detailed information. Ed Saugstad, retired entomologist; Sinks Grove, WV.