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Literature Review

Coachella Valley Jerusalem Cricket

Stenopelmatus cahuilaensis

USFWS: Federal Species of Concern (no official status)
CDFG: No official status

Background

Distribution, Abundance and Trends. The Coachella Valley Jerusalem Cricket is known from the Snow Creek area from Fingal's Finger east to Windy Point, and remnants of sand dune habitat around the Palm Springs Airport. They occur in sandy to somewhat gravelly sandy soils and have been called an obligate sand species. They do not necessarily require active blow sand habitat but have been found in loose wind blown drift sands, dunes, and sand in vacant lots if native vegetation exists. They have been found associated with the roots of members of the sunflower family, including Ambrosia sp. and Encelia sp. (Weissman and Ballmer, pers. comm.).

According to Hawks (1995) these Jerusalem crickets require high humidity and most observations have been following winter and spring storms while the soil substrate remains moist. They are most often located beneath surface debris during the cooler and wetter months of the year. During the summer months they spend daylight hours in deep burrows in the ground; they may rarely be encountered at the surface during the night (Hawks 1995). Because these Jerusalem crickets have been observed more widely at the western edge of the Coachella Valley, and because of their affiliation with cool, moist conditions, it has been suggested that they may be limited in distribution by temperature and moisture regimes (Tinkham 1968, Hawks 1995).

LOCATION	NUMBER OF CRICKETS
	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER	JANUARY/ FEBRUARY	MARCH/ APRIL	MAY/ JUNE
SAN GORGONIO RIVER WASH - from 1 to 3.7 miles W of Snow Creek Road	3 (89/90)	9 (89/90)	12 (90/91)	3 (90)	3 (90)
DUNES W. OF WINDY POINT - N and S of Hwy 111 at Tipton Road	1 (89)	0	1 (90)	1 (89)	0
PALM SPRINGS - San Rafael Road, 0.25 mi. W of Indian Ave.	0	0	1 (90)	0	0
THOUSAND PALMS - 2 mi. E of I-10, S of Ramon Road	0	0	0	0	0
WASHINGTON STREET - 1 mi. N of I-10, near Coachella Valley Preserve	0	0	0	0	0
INDIAN WELLS/LA QUINTA AREA - Miles Ave.	0	0	0	0	–
1 Results are from Ballmer (1993) based on a total or 41 survey dates at 17 trapping sites from 4 February 1989 to 16 March 1991, using from one to five traps at each location. Numbers in parentheses are years that crickets were trapped.

The Coachella Valley Jerusalem cricket feeds at night on roots, tubers, and detritus; they have also been occasionally observed feeding on dead animals and may be cannibalistic. Male and female Jerusalem crickets drum their abdomens against the bottom of their burrows or the ground to attract one another. Small clusters of their relatively large eggs are laid by the female in soil pockets. Their complete life cycle may extend three years or more.

Tinkham first described this species in 1968 from collections made in 1962 and after. The type locality of the species is described as "undulating dunes piled up at the northern base of the San Jacinto Mountains," reached by traveling south from the old Palm Springs Depot (10 miles west of Palm Springs). This location is likely at or near the Snow Creek dunes area. The known range also includes portions of what is now northern Palm Springs and Cathedral City. Known locations where this species has been observed occur on some of the lands owned by the BLM in the Windy Point area, and on lands recently purchased by the BLM or by the Friends of the Desert Mountains along Snow Creek Road. In a 1995 survey for this Plan, Dave Hawks (1995) reported finding these crickets only in the vicinity of Fingal's Finger. Scientific Advisory Committee member Cameron Barrows has also reported observing these crickets only in the Snow Creek area; this Jerusalem cricket has not been detected on the Coachella Valley Preserve despite trapping efforts in this area (C. Barrows, pers. comm.). They have not been found in the vicinity of the Whitewater River Floodplain Preserve and Hawks (1995) suggests that suitable habitat does not exist in this area. The easternmost known location is in the vicinity of Thousand Palms, near Bob Hope Drive and Interstate 10; this location may not longer be extant as the area is increasingly developed. The lack of observations of this species east of Windy Point are very limited and suggest that they may not occur in significant numbers in the central Coachella Valley.

Threats and Limiting Factors. The most significant threats to the Coachella Valley Jerusalem cricket are habitat fragmentation and off-road vehicle use within their habitat. Off road vehicles damage their habitat by crushing underground burrows and eliminating native vegetation. Conversely, clean up and removal of surface debris may not benefit this species as they use debris piles. This species is apparently limited to sand dunes and sand fields at the west end of the Plan area where the temperature/moisture gradients are within their tolerance levels. Greg Ballmer in his report on a trapping survey for the Coachella Valley Jerusalem cricket (1993) has suggested that average annual precipitation and floral community components may be used to predict the occurrence of this species. He suggests that dunes east of Ramon Road (Bob Hope Drive?), at the Coachella Valley Preserve, and in Indian Wells/La Quinta (mostly extirpated) appear to be drier than sites where S. cahuilaensis was found, as evidenced by the comparative lack of winter/spring annuals and herbaceous perennials. He describes observations of sand near Windy Point that was wet to a depth of several inches following winter storms, while sand at Washington Street would be damp, at most, to a depth of one to two inches.

Special Considerations. At present, the only location where this species has been reliably observed, and where a viable population of this species may occur, is in the area from Windy Point west to Snow Creek Road and Fingal's Finger.