---
title: "Japanese Burrowing Cricket"
description: "Velarifictorus micado — Insects & spiders. Velarifictorus micado, the Japanese burrowing cricket, is a cricket in the subfamily Gryllinae (family Gryllidae)."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/japanese-burrowing-cricket
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Japanese Burrowing Cricket

> Velarifictorus micado — Insects & spiders. Velarifictorus micado, the Japanese burrowing cricket, is a cricket in the subfamily Gryllinae (family Gryllidae).

- Scientific name: *Velarifictorus micado*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 9093
- Wikidata: [Q7779989](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7779989)
- iNaturalist taxon: [146737](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/146737)

## Names

- en: Japanese Burrowing Cricket
- es: Grillo excavador japonés

## Countries with the most observations

US (2586), CN (610), KR (220), JP (194), TW (63), GE (6), HK (3), IN (3)

## Summary

Velarifictorus micado, the Japanese burrowing cricket, is a cricket in the subfamily Gryllinae (family Gryllidae). It is found in southern Asia, along with an introduced population in the United States. It was first reported in the US in 1959, likely as overwintering eggs in the soil of imported plants, and has since spread all throughout the eastern half of the country. V. micado is considered to be quite passive and non-destructive. Studies have shown that its range has spread northward and may be much more invasive than previously thought.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velarifictorus_micado

## Photo

![Japanese Burrowing Cricket](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/japanese-burrowing-cricket/medium.jpg)

Photo: USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory · Public domain · commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Velarifictorus_micado.jpg

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/japanese-burrowing-cricket?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).