Parktown prawn
Encyclopedia
The Parktown prawn aka Parkmore prawn aka Parkhurst prawn, Libanasidus vittatus, is a monotypic
species of king cricket found in Southern Africa
. Although a member of the cricket
order Orthoptera
, it is placed in the family Anostostomatidae
, separate from that of the true crickets, Gryllidae. The insect gets its English name from the suburbs of Parktown, Parkmore and Parkhurst in Johannesburg
, South Africa
where they are frequently found. In Angola
, it is found in the southern savanna
and semi-arid regions, whereas in Namibia it is found throughout the territory. The Parktown prawn is also related to the New Zealand tree weta
which is also in the family Anostostomatidae
.
A superficial similarity to a prawn
accounts for its rather whimsical name. The Parktown prawn is held in low regard by some, while gardeners value them for controlling garden snail populations and attracting the Hadeda Ibis.
The animal is omnivorous, feeding on a variety of food including snail
s, and vegetable matter. In urban environments, they will readily take food made available by suburban dwellers, including cat food
, and dog food
. Adults are usually around 4 centimetres (1.6 in) to 5 cm (2 in) in length, with 2 cm (0.78740157480315 in) antennae.
The insect was not known within Johannesburg before the 1960s, the first known specimen being found in Barberton
in 1899 by William Forsell Kirby
. They only became prevalent after 1960, when Johannesburg began to expand rapidly in size and population. The reason for the increase in the insects' numbers is not known, although they have done much better in an urban environment than in the wild, and it is therefore clear that some important controlling factor is absent in its new habitat.
Johannesburg, being part of the South African highveld
, has a dry climate, which was unsuitable habitat for the Parktown prawn. With the arrival of suburban dwellers, cultivation provided lush, forest-like gardens, an environment more suited to the crickets which helped the insect thrive. Johannesburg's suburbs are considered to be one of the world's largest man-made forests, being very green and leafy, representing a total transformation of local flora.
and abdomen
, which gives it a toxic look to would-be aggressors. The legs have downward-facing hooked barbs, which allow it climb up walls and trees. A large specimen can jump more than a metre high.
The male insect sports a strong set of mandibles, although the need for them is not fully known, other than for use in self-defence against other males. The female has a well-developed ovipositor
, through which she will lay between 80 and 200 eggs during mating season in damp or wet topsoil
.
s, snail
s, and cutworm
s, as well as vegetable matter. They have been seen feeding on dog food, cat food, dead birds, as well as dry oatmeal
and fallen fruit. They are also known to chew on wooden floor boards and wooden furniture. Gardens that have a high population of Parktown prawns will have almost no snails, thus, they can be considered an effective and natural form of pest control. Among their natural predators are the Hadeda Ibis, Fiscal Shrike and Helmeted Guineafowl
, three birds in the urban habitat that are able to take on the considerable size of the Parktown prawn.
The Parktown prawn is capable of large jumps when threatened, often ejecting an offensive black fecal liquid.
A popular urban legend, fuelled by April Fools' Day
articles published by the Johannesburg newspaper The Star
, tells that the Parktown prawn was actually the result of an escaped genetic experiment by students from the University of the Witwatersrand
in the 1960s (thus explaining the insects' sudden arrival in Johannesburg at that time). The insect's unusual strength, vivid orange colouring and size are seen to 'confirm' this urban legend.
The resilience and strength of the Parktown prawn allowed two cartoon
versions to become objects of humour in the well known South African cartoon strip Madam & Eve
, inspiring fear in Gwen Anderson and Eve Sisulu. In the cartoons, the Parktown prawns get 'high
' on insecticide (in reference to their size and how much poison is required to kill them), and produce two prawn-shaped indentations on the bottom of a frying pan
with which they are swatted, in reference to their hard exoskeletons.
In the 1980s Andrew Buckland's acclaimed play 'The Ugly Noo Noo' used Parktown Prawns as part of an extended parody of South African politics of the time.
Neill Blomkamp's film District 9 features an alien race some humans disparagingly refer to as prawns. Some film critics have speculated that the appearance of the aliens was inspired by the Parkmore prawn.
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
species of king cricket found in Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
. Although a member of the cricket
Cricket (insect)
Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers, and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...
order Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera is an order of insects with paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, crickets and locusts.Many insects in this order produce sound by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps...
, it is placed in the family Anostostomatidae
Anostostomatidae
Anostostomatidae is a family in the order Orthoptera. It is sometimes referred to as Mimnermidae or Henicidae in some taxonomies, and common names include King crickets in South Africa, and wetas in New Zealand. They are believed to be most closely related to the Jerusalem crickets of North America...
, separate from that of the true crickets, Gryllidae. The insect gets its English name from the suburbs of Parktown, Parkmore and Parkhurst in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
where they are frequently found. In Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, it is found in the southern savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
and semi-arid regions, whereas in Namibia it is found throughout the territory. The Parktown prawn is also related to the New Zealand tree weta
Tree weta
Tree wetas are species of weta in the genus Hemideina of the family Anostostomatidae. They are endemic to New Zealand.-Species:* Hemideina broughi West Coast bush weta - overlaps with the Wellington tree weta on the West Coast....
which is also in the family Anostostomatidae
Anostostomatidae
Anostostomatidae is a family in the order Orthoptera. It is sometimes referred to as Mimnermidae or Henicidae in some taxonomies, and common names include King crickets in South Africa, and wetas in New Zealand. They are believed to be most closely related to the Jerusalem crickets of North America...
.
A superficial similarity to a prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
accounts for its rather whimsical name. The Parktown prawn is held in low regard by some, while gardeners value them for controlling garden snail populations and attracting the Hadeda Ibis.
The animal is omnivorous, feeding on a variety of food including snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, and vegetable matter. In urban environments, they will readily take food made available by suburban dwellers, including cat food
Cat food
Cat food is food intended for consumption by cats.As with all species, cats have requirements for specific dietary nutrients, rather than ingredients. Certain nutrients, including many vitamins and amino acids, are degraded by the temperatures, pressures and chemical treatments used during...
, and dog food
Dog food
Dog food refers to food specifically intended for consumption by dogs. Though technically omnivorous, dogs exhibit a natural carnivorous bias, have sharp, pointy teeth, and have short gastrointestinal tracts better suited for the consumption of meat...
. Adults are usually around 4 centimetres (1.6 in) to 5 cm (2 in) in length, with 2 cm (0.78740157480315 in) antennae.
History and discovery
Barberton, Mpumalanga
Barberton is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, which has its origin in the 1880s gold rush in the region. It is situated in the De Kaap Valley and is fringed by the Mkhonjwa Mountains...
in 1899 by William Forsell Kirby
William Forsell Kirby
William Forsell Kirby was an English entomologist and folklorist.He was born in Leicester. He was the eldest son of Samuel Kirby, who was a banker. He was educated privately, and became interested in butterflies and moths at an early age. The family moved to Brighton, where he became acquainted...
. They only became prevalent after 1960, when Johannesburg began to expand rapidly in size and population. The reason for the increase in the insects' numbers is not known, although they have done much better in an urban environment than in the wild, and it is therefore clear that some important controlling factor is absent in its new habitat.
Johannesburg, being part of the South African highveld
Highveld
The Highveld is a high plateau region of inland South Africa which is largely home to the largest metropolitan area in the country, the Gauteng City Region, which accounts for one-third of South Africa's population.-Location and description:...
, has a dry climate, which was unsuitable habitat for the Parktown prawn. With the arrival of suburban dwellers, cultivation provided lush, forest-like gardens, an environment more suited to the crickets which helped the insect thrive. Johannesburg's suburbs are considered to be one of the world's largest man-made forests, being very green and leafy, representing a total transformation of local flora.
Description
The Parktown prawn is one of the larger insects found in Johannesburg homes. A large specimen may grow to be 10 cm (3.9 in) or more, with long whip-like antennae extending to 10 cm (3.9 in), but are usually around 4 cm (1.6 in) to 5 cm (2 in) in length, with 2 cm (0.78740157480315 in) antennae. The exoskeleton is orange to light brown, with darker brown or black stripes along the thoraxThorax
The thorax is a division of an animal's body that lies between the head and the abdomen.-In tetrapods:...
and abdomen
Abdomen
In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...
, which gives it a toxic look to would-be aggressors. The legs have downward-facing hooked barbs, which allow it climb up walls and trees. A large specimen can jump more than a metre high.
The male insect sports a strong set of mandibles, although the need for them is not fully known, other than for use in self-defence against other males. The female has a well-developed ovipositor
Ovipositor
The ovipositor is an organ used by some animals for oviposition, i.e., the laying of eggs. It consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages formed to transmit the egg, to prepare a place for it, and to place it properly...
, through which she will lay between 80 and 200 eggs during mating season in damp or wet topsoil
Topsoil
Topsoil is the upper, outermost layer of soil, usually the top to . It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs.-Importance:...
.
Diet
The Parktown prawn is typically omnivorous, feeding on slugSlug
Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...
s, snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, and cutworm
Cutworm
Cutworms are not worms, biologically speaking, but caterpillars; they are moth larvae that hide under litter or soil during the day, coming out in the dark to feed on plants...
s, as well as vegetable matter. They have been seen feeding on dog food, cat food, dead birds, as well as dry oatmeal
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is ground oat groats , or a porridge made from oats . Oatmeal can also be ground oat, steel-cut oats, crushed oats, or rolled oats....
and fallen fruit. They are also known to chew on wooden floor boards and wooden furniture. Gardens that have a high population of Parktown prawns will have almost no snails, thus, they can be considered an effective and natural form of pest control. Among their natural predators are the Hadeda Ibis, Fiscal Shrike and Helmeted Guineafowl
Helmeted Guineafowl
The Helmeted Guineafowl is the best known of the guineafowl bird family, Numididae, and the only member of the genus Numida...
, three birds in the urban habitat that are able to take on the considerable size of the Parktown prawn.
Relationship with humans
They are considered pests by some South Africans, and held in high regard by others. They are most visibly prevalent after rain during summer, which is when they are most likely to be found indoors. Parktown prawns seem to be more active at night.The Parktown prawn is capable of large jumps when threatened, often ejecting an offensive black fecal liquid.
A popular urban legend, fuelled by April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
articles published by the Johannesburg newspaper The Star
The Star (South Africa)
The Star is a daily newspaper based in Gauteng, South Africa. It has a readership of 840 000 and is owned by Independent News & Media. It gained worldwide attention in 2006 when it published survey results according to which about twenty percent of South African men have raped a woman in...
, tells that the Parktown prawn was actually the result of an escaped genetic experiment by students from the University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
in the 1960s (thus explaining the insects' sudden arrival in Johannesburg at that time). The insect's unusual strength, vivid orange colouring and size are seen to 'confirm' this urban legend.
The resilience and strength of the Parktown prawn allowed two cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
versions to become objects of humour in the well known South African cartoon strip Madam & Eve
Madam & Eve
Madam & Eve is a daily comic strip originating in South Africa. The strip, by Stephen Francis and Rico Schacherl, is syndicated in 13 publications and claims a daily readership of over 4 million people...
, inspiring fear in Gwen Anderson and Eve Sisulu. In the cartoons, the Parktown prawns get 'high
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
' on insecticide (in reference to their size and how much poison is required to kill them), and produce two prawn-shaped indentations on the bottom of a frying pan
Frying pan
A frying pan, frypan, or skillet is a flat-bottomed pan used for frying, searing, and browning foods. It is typically in diameter with relatively low sides that flare outwards, a long handle, and no lid. Larger pans may have a small grab handle opposite the main handle...
with which they are swatted, in reference to their hard exoskeletons.
In the 1980s Andrew Buckland's acclaimed play 'The Ugly Noo Noo' used Parktown Prawns as part of an extended parody of South African politics of the time.
Neill Blomkamp's film District 9 features an alien race some humans disparagingly refer to as prawns. Some film critics have speculated that the appearance of the aliens was inspired by the Parkmore prawn.
External links
- http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/november/monster.htm