CIRCLE IN THE SAND

The seldom-seen subterranean insect that swims beneath our feet

- Nick Baker's

IT LOOKS LIKE A SMALL CHIPOLATA SAUSAGE to which some joker has tastelessly attached the front end of a mole cricket. This apparent chimaera of a creature, however, is real. The sandgroper is a kind of grasshopper and is seriously good at surviving in Australia's harsh and arid sandlands. The 14 species are collectively known by the rather descriptive scientific name, Cylindrachetids. Some are quite large, growing to 7-8cm long, but sandgropers are rarely seen and, given their highly specialised subterranean lifestyle, this isn't much of a surprise.

They are peculiar to look at because everything about them is honed to their hypogean ways beneath the sand's surface. Here they can shelter, avoid predators and find cooler, more humid conditions away from the dehydrating effects of the sun and wind. It's a good gig if you can handle the challenges of living in an ever-changing, shifting and abrasive habitat.