Drought brings out insect invasion

(Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

Crunch. Squish. Pop.

It’s the sound of Corpus Christi shoes and vehicles coming in contact with a booming cricket population.

Now is the time when the cricket, known commonly as the field cricket, is most active in South Texas, according to a local entomologist.

Swarms can be seen in area parking lots and clinging onto the sides of buildings and lights – jumping, hopping and crawling over anything in their path.

While the cricket boom usually comes every few years, this year seems to have more than usual, said Roy Parker, a professor and entomologist at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Research and Extension Center.

“It’s worse than it probably has been in the past three or four years,” he said.

They mate in late summer and lay their eggs in early fall. This year’s drought conditions are believed to have caused crickets to leave the hot ground, seek water and mate early.

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