The Rythm of the Beat
Subgenual baby, Subgenual…
In the southwestern United States, and parts of Mexico there is a creature that instills a visceral response in anyone who sees it. For most of us, the response elicits a shuddering “ick” feeling that makes people flee. The species was first described for western science by Herman Burmeister, who was a German “multi-ist” as in zoologist, entomologist, herpetologist and botanist. He is known for being prodigious in 2 areas, naming new species and having incredibly long eyebrows.
The critter of which I speak is the Jerusalem Cricket. Why is it named the Jerusalem cricket you ask? Well… as is the case in so many stories of naming things that involve translation, no one really knows. In the Navajo language, these monstrous pseudo-crickets (turns out they’re not even crickets—more on that in moment) are called c’ic’in lici, which translates to red-skull bug. One theory goes that Franciscan priests, developing a Navajo dictionary, were working on translating a name for the famous hill near Jerusalem, the Calvary. Calvary is also called Golgotha, or skull hill. Skull hill sounds a lot like skull bug, so DUH it’s a Jerusalem cricket. Forget the fact that it has nothing to do with Jerusalem and its not a cricket. Other that those two facts it makes perfect sense right?
I’m going to go with the Navajo name; red-skull it is. The red-skull is a large, flightless insect. Apparently, some folks think the head is “human-like.” I don’t know from nothin, but if you think this thing looks human, you might want to re-evaluate your choices regarding who you hang out with.
Anyway, I digress. Red-skulls are, as I keep saying, not crickets. Their closest living relative is the weta of New Zealand. If you think the red skull is big and creepy, the weta will likely cause you extreme mental anguish. Let’s put it this way, if the picture above depicted a weta, the quarter would have to be a salad plate…
Red skulls have no wings. As such, they have no music organs like the cricket; but they do make music, sorta. If the cricket is the strings section of this orchestra, the red skull is the rhythm section. These hip hop maestros have organs in their feet called subgenual organs. What’s that? … Well let me tell you. I pulled this straight out of the Encyclopedia of Entomology Volume 4:
“The subgenual organ is a complex chordontal organ composed of multiple scolopidia. The name subgenual mean below the knee, from the Latin for knee (genu). This organ acts as a proprioceptor….”
HUH? What now? Ok, let’s break this down in to something I can actually say without knowing Latin (I will also not spend to much time on the connection between genu and genuflect, Latin for kneel, which is something you might do in Jerusalem, or more relevantly, in California if you’re looking for mis-named insects….)
The subgenual organ is an organ on the leg or foot that detects vibration. That makes more sense. So we got this large, creepy skull-headed bug with vibration detection gear in its feet. It also has a large back-end (I’ll resist the urge to make Sir Mix-alot references here).
Mr. red-skull crawls around in the leaf litter and smacks his abdomen against the ground in a drumbeat of passion. Picture the scene: A moonlit night. Bats flit to and fro in the sky. Dozens of red-skull don Juans are smacking their butts on the ground as lady red-skulls swoon with the rhythm. Ahh but the red skulls are not sexist. The ladies can lay down a beat to. It’s a mutual dance of good vibrations. Here is the real kicker, the red skull has no ear. They Feel the music; feel it through their legs daddy o.
Beware, however, don’t interrupt, let the music play and stand back. These guys also have a defense mechanism that ironically is linked to their posterior. Get too close and, “smell you later,” if you get my drift.
