Identify this bug for me

sorabji.com: I need advice: Identify this bug for me
By Spider on Friday, December 24, 2004 - 12:29 pm:

    This bug.

    It's about 1.5 - 2 inches long. That red and yellow thing is its head. It's this freaky bug that was sitting in the middle of a dirt road in SE Montana. What could it be?

By Nate on Friday, December 24, 2004 - 01:12 pm:

    can't really tell from the photo, but it looks like it might be what we called a potato bug when i was a kid.

    aka, the jerusalem cricket.

By Platypus on Friday, December 24, 2004 - 08:12 pm:

    I concur with Nate.

By Spider on Friday, December 24, 2004 - 10:48 pm:

    But but but the Jerusalem cricket is all one color, and my bug is full of freaky colors. Why does it look like half a bee? I need answers.

By wisper on Saturday, December 25, 2004 - 01:14 am:

    Ho ho ho, tee hee hee, Eric the Half-A-Bee.

By TBone on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 02:26 pm:

    I hate those things! Eww!

By Spider on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 07:00 pm:

    What. Are. They. ?

By lapis on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 11:45 pm:

    it does look like a potato bug, but my potato bug was grey and teeny and shaped a little like a tank.

    i used to pull their legs off.

By TBone on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 - 01:01 am:

    [shrugs]

By Platypus on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 - 02:20 am:

    Lapis what you are describing sounds like what we call a sowbug...

By Spider on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 - 10:24 am:

    Nate was right -- it's a jerusalem cricket. See?