UF/IFAS Mole Crickets

A Knowledgebase of Mole Crickets and Their Management
version 2.0

The mole cricket knowledgebase provides information on all ten species found in the United States, including Hawaii, and Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This information covers distribution, description, life cycle, damage, and biological controls. It also includes an identification key for these species that makes heavy use of graphics and photographs. A separate control section lists information on damage for various crops (turf, pastures, vegetables), and chemical and biological control methods. Another section provides references for users interested in obtaining more detailed information from the scientific literature. Additional references are either provided on the CD or linked to Web-based files.

There are now four tutorials designed to acquaint the user with the basic concepts of mole cricket control. The chemical tutorial emphasizes the proper calibration of equipment and spray mixtures. Included is the ability to view or print several publications dealing with calibration. The other three tutorials, one each on the mole cricket nematode, Brazilian red-eyed fly, and the Larra wasp introduce users to the necessary concepts required for the proper use of these natural organisms. These concepts range from training personnel in basic identification of a fly, wasp or nematode to the necessary procedures for optimizing the use of the specific fly, wasp and nematode species that control mole crickets.

Technical and scientific terms throughout the program are defined through the use of hyperlinks. All definitions are cross-linked for reference and many lead to graphics. For example, clicking on the word "dactyl" accesses a pop-up window that defines this term and links to a line drawing and color photograph of a dactyl. The definition also allows a user to access a full screen graphic of a mole cricket adult and juvenile with the location of the dactyl indicated.

The CD-ROM includes many new SVGA graphics and photographs of the mole crickets, body parts, nematodes, red-eyed fly and other parasites and predators. MCricket 2.0 has been expanded to cover pastures and vegetable problems as well as turfgrass related subjects. Several graphics display the pronotums and dactyls of the various pest species on one screen for easy reference. Requires a CD-ROM, a mouse and graphical World Wide Web browser. Mole Crickets runs on both Macs and Windows-PCs.

Mole Crickets 2.0 (SW-89) is available for $12. Quantity and reseller discounts available. Call the UF/IFAS Extension Bookstore at (352) 392-1764 or (800) 226-1764 or order online.

Mole Crickets was developed by UF/IFAS entomologists Howard Frank, Thomas Fasulo, Donald Short and Aaron Weed. Extension agents Harold Jones of Duval County, and LaRue Robinson (now an extension agent with the University of Nevada) were also part of the initial development team for version 1.0.

For information on other insect and insect-related software,
see the UF/IFAS Buggy Software Web site.

Other WWW sites we developed