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As you can see from the ants in the first picture, this insect is peculiarly large - over an inch long. I thought it was dead in the first picture, but it started moving around the next day. A couple of days later I found it again, dead. I have two dead specimens and other pictures if desired.

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I think I've seen a shedded exoskeleton of one on a forest trail and another dead one from months earlier.

What species is it?

Location: Oregon, USA.

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    $\begingroup$ I just edited your question's title, changing the state for the country. $\endgroup$
    – user24284
    Nov 13, 2017 at 2:24

1 Answer 1

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This is a Jerusalem cricket, an insect from the Genus Stenopelmatus.

Here is an image of Stenopelmatus fuscus for comparison:

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  • $\begingroup$ PS: I was almost sure that this was a duplicate, I remember seeing this insect before on Bio SE. However, I searched "Jerusalem" and "Stenopelmatus" and found nothing. $\endgroup$
    – user24284
    Nov 13, 2017 at 2:26
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    $\begingroup$ Stopping at genus here is the best course; I misremember where I read this, but the genus Stenopelmatus is known to have upwards of fifty species that have not yet been named, with the more widely distributed species (of which fuscus is one) recognized as composite (there's more than one species hiding in the published records of that name). $\endgroup$
    – user32396
    Nov 14, 2017 at 10:17
  • $\begingroup$ @ArthurJFrost In reading articles on "Jerusalem cricket", I saw it was mentioned in a few that there were quite a few similar species not entirely documented or studied yet. $\endgroup$
    – Dronz
    Nov 14, 2017 at 16:10

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