If you're a Long Islander with a dark and damp basement or storage room, it's likely you've turned the lights on recently only to discover a mysterious six-legged creature with the ability to leap away from capture, without the benefit of wings.

Welcome to the season of camel crickets, named for the rounded hump on the insect’s back. They're also commonly known as cave or spider crickets, or even "criders" or "sprickets."

Neither a typical cricket — they don't chirp — nor a spider per se, the insects are more nuisance than danger, experts say, although the unnerving experience of finding one staring back at you while carrying your laundry to the machine may be enough to momentarily take your breath away.

"We get a lot of calls for them, particularly this time of the year," said Jim Skin

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