Pest

Mole crickets

Neoscapteriscus spp. (N. vicinus, N. borellii, N. abbreviatus)

The short answer

Mole crickets are burrowing crickets with broad, shovel-shaped front legs. The pest species in the United States are three South American Neoscapteriscus mole crickets (tawny, southern and shortwinged) that arrived around 1900 and now occur across the Southeast from North Carolina to Texas, and throughout Florida. They tunnel through the top 8–10 inches of soil, running just under the surface when it is warm and moist, which lifts the turf in ridges, dries the roots out and damages them. The tawny mole cricket also eats the grass. UF/IFAS gives a simple test: a soapy-water flush over 4 square feet of turf. If two to four crickets surface within three minutes, control is justified. The best time to treat is early summer, while the nymphs are small.

Control it with

Wild beneficialSteinernema scapterisciNematode — established, no longer sold

hero macro · adult mole cricket beside its tunnel

A tawny mole cricket flushed to the surface with soapy water. Photo: pending.

Identification

A mole cricket is built for digging: a cylindrical, velvety body, a hard, shield-like pronotum and broad front legs with blade-like claws, called dactyls. Adults are 22–33 mm long (about 7/8 to 1¼ inches), depending on species, and range from light yellowish-brown to dark brown. The nymphs look like small adults with only stubby wing pads. They are nocturnal, so they are rarely seen by day. Adults fly at dusk in spring and are drawn to lights.

Count the claws on the front leg. The invasive pest species have two dactyls. The native Neocurtilla mole cricket, which is not a pest, has four. Among the pests, the tawny mole cricket's two dactyls nearly touch at the base, while those of the southern and shortwinged mole crickets are separated by at least half their width. The shortwinged mole cricket has wings shorter than its pronotum and cannot fly. The southern mole cricket's hind wings reach past the tip of the abdomen.

ADULTTawny mole cricketN. vicinus. Yellowish-brown, dactyls nearly touching. Eats grass roots and shoots; the most damaging.

ADULTSouthern mole cricketN. borellii. Brown, often with a dark pronotum; dactyls well apart. Feeds mostly on other insects, but its tunnelling still damages turf.

ADULTShortwinged mole cricketN. abbreviatus. Short wings, flightless. Mainly coastal Florida and southern Georgia.

NYMPHNymphLike a small adult with only wing pads. Probably 8–10 instars over 23–38 weeks. Small summer nymphs are the easiest stage to kill.

Easily confused with

Native Neocurtilla mole cricketHarmlessCount the claws on the front leg. The invasive pest species have two blade-like claws (dactyls); the native mole cricket, which is not a pest, has four.

Damage symptoms

Most of the damage comes from tunnelling. Mole crickets tunnel in the top 8–10 inches of soil, and just under the surface when it is warm and moist, pushing the surface up in ridges. That dries the soil out and damages young roots, so the grass looks drought-stricken even after watering. Feeding adds to it: tawny mole crickets eat roots and shoots, and can girdle seedlings or pull them into their tunnels. UF/IFAS Solutions for Your Life puts the worst damage in spring (March to June) and again from late August into early October. The UF/IFAS IPM guide adds that damage builds through warm, moist summers while the nymphs grow fast.

Raised, winding ridges in the turf where tunnels run just below the surface
Grass that looks drought-stricken even though it has been watered
Thinning, dead patches with little root left
Brown, shovel-legged crickets at porch lights on spring evenings

Lifecycle & degree days

In most of the Southeast there is one generation a year, with two for the southern mole cricket in southern Florida. Adults fly and mate in spring, and females lay eggs in chambers in the soil. The eggs hatch in 10–40 days, depending on soil temperature, and the nymphs feed and grow all summer. Both nymphs and adults overwinter. The shortwinged mole cricket, which does not fly, can be found at every stage all year.

Generations: 1 a year; 2 for the southern mole cricket in southern Florida
Spring flights: Tawny March–May, plus an autumn flight; southern April–June, plus a minor flight around November
Eggs: 25–60 per chamber, 5–30 cm (2–12 in) deep; 2–5 masses per female
Egg hatch: 10–40 days, by soil temperature; tawny hatch April–June
Nymphs: Probably 8–10 instars over 23–38 weeks; tawny adults from September
Treatment window: June to July in north Florida, when the nymphs are small

Pressure by month

Host crops

Lawns and turf

Grasses differ in how badly they are hurt. UF/IFAS lists bahiagrass, bermudagrass and seashore paspalum as the most susceptible, and centipedegrass, St. Augustinegrass and zoysiagrass as the least often injured. Pastures, golf courses and sod farms suffer as well as lawns, and mole crickets also damage vegetable seedlings. Sandy, moist soils favour them. The tawny mole cricket is found within a few miles of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from North Carolina to eastern Texas in the UF/IFAS IPM guide (to Louisiana in its species profile), and throughout Florida. The southern mole cricket ranges from North Carolina to central Texas and has been reported in Arizona and California; the species profile extends it to Arizona and northern Mexico.

Monitoring & action thresholds

Action threshold

2–4 mole crickets per 4 ft² soap flush

That is a 2 × 2 ft (about 0.37 m²) patch, counted for three minutes. UF/IFAS treats 2–4 adults as the general upper limit for turf. Its IPM guide also says two or more surfacing is enough to justify control. A 2010 UF/IFAS pasture project used four or more. None of the sources gives a separate figure for home lawns, so choose where you sit in that range by how much damage the lawn has had before.

Soap-flush in spring and again in early summer, and wherever the turf is ridged or thinning. UF/IFAS recipes vary but come to the same strength: 1½ fl oz (45 ml) of liquid dish soap in 2 gallons of water, or ¾ fl oz in 1 gallon, poured evenly over a 2 × 2 ft patch. Watch for three minutes and count what surfaces. In north Florida, UF/IFAS Extension says all the eggs have hatched by mid to late June, so a flush then shows the size of the new generation while it is still small. Keep a record of where you found them, because areas infested before are likely to be infested again.

Beneficial

Biological control

Florida's classical biological control programme is credited with a marked decline in these crickets across the state. From the 1980s, UF/IFAS released three South American natural enemies, and all three are now established in Florida. The mole cricket nematode, Steinernema scapterisci, infects large nymphs and adults and is carried to new areas by infected crickets. The Larra bicolor wasp lays an egg on each mole cricket it finds, and the larva feeds on the cricket and kills it. It needs nectar flowers, and has spread over much of north and central Florida. The Brazilian red-eyed fly, Ormia depleta, finds calling males by their song and deposits larvae that kill them. It is found in southern and central Florida, north to about Alachua County. None of the three can be bought now. You encourage the wasp by planting its nectar flowers, and you avoid treating the whole lawn so that parasitised crickets survive.

Steinernema scapterisci

Mole cricket nematode

Kind: Wild — attract it
Best for: Already established in Florida soils; no longer sold

Full profile & suppliers →

Cultural controls

Mole crickets stay near the surface in moist soil and go deeper when it is dry. Females lay more eggs in irrigated turf, and eggs survive less well in drought, so UF/IFAS advises watering less in winter. Choosing a tolerant grass and keeping it well mown, fed and watered is the UF/IFAS starting point.

Soap-flush before treating, and treat only the patches over threshold
Choose centipedegrass, St. Augustinegrass or zoysiagrass over bahiagrass or bermudagrass where mole crickets are a known problem
Mow at the right height for the grass (St. Augustine standards 3½–4 inches, zoysia 2–2½, centipede 1–1½) and keep fertility and irrigation adequate
Water less in winter; mole crickets need moist soil
Turn off outdoor lights from sunset until well after dark during the spring flights, or use yellow bulbs
Plant larraflower (Spermacoce verticillata), white pentas or partridge pea for the Larra wasp. Contain larraflower, which can spread, and keep partridge pea away from livestock, which it may poison

Chemical, last resort

Timing matters more than product. UF/IFAS says small summer nymphs are far easier to kill than large nymphs in autumn, so treat in June and July in north Florida, after irrigation has brought the crickets near the surface. Use only a product whose label lists mole crickets, and follow its directions. Rotate insecticide classes by IRAC group, and treat only infested areas so natural enemies survive in the rest.Check any product before it goes on. Open the compatibility matrix →

Rating: the effect on this pest's natural enemies if a spray hits them or they feed on treated plants. REI is the re-entry interval on farm and greenhouse labels; home labels usually give none, so follow the label.

Sources

UF/IFAS EDIS IPM-206, Mole Cricket IPM Guide for Florida (Kerr, Leppla, Buss & Frank, 2021)

UF/IFAS EDIS EENY-235, Shortwinged, Southern and Tawny Mole Crickets (Capinera & Leppla)

UF/IFAS EDIS EENY-092, Mole Cricket Nematode, Steinernema scapterisci (Nguyen)

UF/IFAS Solutions for Your Life, Mole Crickets

UF/IFAS Range Cattle REC, Mole Cricket Control Project (news release, 2010)

L. Williams, UF/IFAS Extension Okaloosa Co., Wait until June to control mole crickets (2018)

Page status

Drafted from the sources below, then checked claim by claim against those sources on 23 September 2026.

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