Mormon cricket
Mormon cricket (red background).jpg
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Family: Tettigoniidae
Subfamily: Tettigoniinae
Tribe: Platycleidini
Genus: Anabrus
Species: A. simplex
Binomial name
Anabrus simplex
Haldeman, 1852

Anabrus simplex - Mormon Cricket
The Mormon cricket (Anabrus simplex) is a large insect that can grow to almost 8 cm (3 inches) in length. It lives throughout western North America in rangelands dominated by sagebrush and forbs. Despite its name, the Mormon cricket is actually a shieldbacked katydid. It takes its name from Mormon settlers in Utah, who encountered them while pushing westward, and for the prominent role they play in the miracle of the gulls.[1]
Although flightless, the Mormon cricket is capable of traveling up to two kilometers a day[2] in its swarming phase, during which it is a serious agricultural pest and traffic hazard.

Dinosaur National Monument
Colorado