User:The Earwig/Sandbox

Parktown prawn

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• Chrysiridia rhipheus
• Scyllarides latus
• Krill

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• http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/24/world/johannesburg-journal-these-streets-belong-to-the-pre-millennium-bug.html
• http://home.intekom.com/intekom/parktown_prawns/

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• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Parktown+prawn
• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Libanasidus+vittatus
• http://www.google.com/search?q=Parktown+prawn
• http://www.google.com/search?q=Libanasidus+vittatus

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Parktown prawn is the familiar term South Africans use for Libanasidus vittatus, a monotypic king cricket species found in South Africa, belonging to the Anostostomatidae family, and getting their name from the suburb Parktown in Johannesburg where they are most commonly found. It is not considered a true cricket. Adults are usually around 4 to 5 centimetres in length, with 2 cm. antennae.

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The Parktown prawn, Libanasidus vittatus, is a monotypic species of king cricket found in South Africa. It belongs to the family Anostostomatidae, not Gryllidae, and is therefore not considered a true cricket. The insect gets its name from the suburb of Parktown in Johannesburg, where they are most commonly found. Despite its name, it is not a true prawn, but called one due to its appearance. A pest, the Parktown prawn is held in a similar regard as a cockroach, with a strong exoskeleton and resistance to insecticide, making it difficult to kill.

Adults are usually around 4 centimetres (1.6 in) to 5 cm (2.0 in) in length, with 2 cm (0.79 in) antennae.

In society

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They are generally considered pests by most in South Africa, and are held in the same regard as cockroaches. The strong exoskeleton of the Parktown prawn makes it exceedingly difficult to kill. They are able to function for a short time when decapitated, and are less susceptible to insecticide than most other insects. 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 renowned and feared for its ability to jump long distances when threatened (they tend to jump towards the threatener). They also release a vile-smelling 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.

Popular culture

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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 2009 science fiction film District 9 features aliens dubbed 'prawns' by Johannesburg residents, apparently inspired by the aliens' resemblance to the Parktown variety.