Small tunneling or mound-building can be seen during these warm spells. Although typically inactive while overwintering, periods of warm winter weather may cause them to become more active. Mole crickets can overwinter as either an immature or adult, from October through March. Mole crickets have three life stages in their development, the egg stage, the immature stage (also known as the larval or nymph stage), and the adult stage. In regions further south, they can have two or more generations per year. Fortunately, these mole crickets have only one generation per year.

Successful mole cricket management programs include a thorough knowledge of the life cycle of the insect.Д«oth the southern and tawny mole crickets have similar life cycles in South Carolina. The tawny mole crickets mature to 1ВЅ- to 2-inches long, while the smaller southern mole cricket matures to 1- to 1ВЅ-inches long. Four lightly colored dots located on top of the head is another distinctive characteristic of southern mole cricket. The tawny mole cricket is tan-colored, while the southern mole cricket is darker brown to almost black. The tawny mole cricket is a bigger, more robust insect as compared to the southern mole cricket. Their forelegs are modified for digging through the soil and resemble the front legs of a mole. Like all insects, they have three pairs of legs, three-segmented body parts, and a set of antennae. University of Georgia, DescriptionД«oth the tawny and southern mole cricket have a cricket-like appearance. This tunneling can be severely damaging to highly managed turfgrass, especially golf greens.ДЄs a comparison, above are the northern, short-winged, tawny, and Southern mole crickets. In addition to their destructive feeding habits, these insects tunnel through the soil just beneath the lawn.

It feeds almost exclusively on turfgrass roots and shoots, while the southern mole cricket feeds primarily on small organisms in the soil and rarely on the turf itself. Of these, the tawny mole cricket is most destructive to home lawns. Once established, these insects spread rapidly through the sandy coastal areas of the southeast. Mole crickets were first detected in coastal port towns, such as Brunswick, GA, Charleston, SC, and Mobile, AL, during the late 1800s and early 1900s. These species are believed to have been introduced into the United States in the ballasts of ships from South America. The northern mole cricket is native to South Carolina but causes little, if any, damage to lawns.Д«oth the tawny and southern mole crickets are introduced species in the United States. The tawny mole cricket, and to a lesser extent, the southern mole cricket, are important pests that have a major impact on turfgrass management programs. They include the tawny mole cricket ( Neoscapteriscus vicinus), the southern mole cricket ( Neoscapteriscus borellii), and the northern mole cricket ( Neocurtilla hexadactyla). In South Carolina, there are three species of mole crickets that occur mainly in the sandy coastal regions. Insects and diseases can become problematic, and one very troublesome insect pest that causes significant damage to turfgrass in the Southern United States is the mole cricket. However, an understanding of insect pests and disease management can be just as important. University of Georgia.Turfgrass management involves a basic knowledge of several different cultural practices, such as proper irrigation, fertilization, and mowing. Vegetable and tobacco transplants can be protected by treatments applied as the pests appear in the fields. Best results are obtained from treatments applied in June, just as the eggs have hatched. Mating and dispersal flights occur in spring, mostly in April and May.Д¬ontrol can be difficult, as with all soil-dwelling insects. Nymphs feed through the summer and fall, then overwinter either as new adults or large nymphs that become adults in early spring. Eggs are laid in the spring, in cells in the ground. Mole crickets have one generation per year. The southern mole cricket is a predator, but sometimes causes mechanical damage to tender young plants as it tunnels along just below the surface hunting for worms and other small soil organisms. It also sometimes damages vegetable transplants, tobacco, and various bedding plants. The tawny mole cricket feeds on many types of herbaceous plants, but seems to prefer grasses (both turf and pasture). Nymphs look like the adults but are without wings.

Color ranges from golden-brown to gray-brown for the introduced (pest) species to rich, chestnut-brown for the native northern mole cricket, which is not a pest in most cases.

Adults are elongate, cylindrical, about 1' long, with jumping hind legs, and with front legs modified into short, broad spades with jagged edges that are held alongside and in front of the head. There are 3 species of mole crickets in Georgia, all with similar overall appearance.