Insects That Live in the Texas Soil

Mole Cricket

• This Texas insect tunnels into soil, creating a burrow around 1/2 inch in diameter to make its home around tubers, roots and stems. Although it prefers soil that is sandy and can even be found burrowed under golf courses, the mole cricket can be found throughout all soil in eastern Texas. This brown-colored cricket feeds on plants and can fly at night. However, for a cricket, it is known for its digging abilities rather than its abysmal jumping prowess.

Red Velvet Ant

• The name "ant" for this insect is rather deceiving. The red velvet ant is actually a wasp, and gets its name from the wingless females of the population. Their hairy bodies coupled with their black and red coat resemble the common ant. These wasps are known for their powerful and painful sting, and are thus dubbed "cow killers." However, these wasps rarely sting cows and prefer to feed on beetles, flies and other small insects.

Cicada Killer

• This wasp gets its name from doing exactly what it implies--killing and eating cicadas. These burrowing insects can be found roaming Texas during August and July when cicadas are most active. The cicada killer wasp places its nest underground, tunneling up to 6 inches underneath the soil before it finds a proper location. During the winter, the larvae stay in these burrows. After developing into an adult by the next summer, they surface and begin their feeding and mating cycles.

Texas Leafcutting Ant

• Texas leafcutting ants produce mounds in sandy soil. They are called "leafcutters" primarily because the workers take leaves and buds from varying plants and shrubs. Oftentimes, the worker ants carry this food back during the summer (mostly at night), but they've been known to work in temperatures as low as 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7.2 degrees Celsius) during the winter months. These leaves are then used to create fungus at the mound. The ants feed solely upon this fungus.