explained. It is suggested that they may be used in sexual competition between males. The female has a well-developed sword-like ovipositor, through which she may lay between 80 and 200 eggs in damp or wet topsoil during the mating season. Diet Libanasidus vittatus is omnivorous, feeding on slugs, snails, and moth larvae such as cutworms, as well as a fairly wide range of vegetable matter. They have been seen feeding on dead birds and other carrion, the food of pet dogs and cats, pet droppings, dry oatmeal, and also on fallen fruit. They have been known to chew on wooden floor boards and wooden structures such as garden furniture, though they are not equipped to digest sound wood. Gardens that have a healthy population of Parktown prawns are practically free of slugs and snails, so gardeners who are aware of their habits regard Parktown prawns as an effective natural means of controlling such pests. In turn the king crickets have their own natural predators, such as the hadeda ibis, fiscal shrike and helmeted guineafowl, birds at home in the urban habitat and able to deal with such large insects. Relationship with humans Although perceptive South Africans commonly regard Parktown prawns as desirable in gardens, they can be unwelcome visitors indoors, where they are seen as pests; the insects can jump actively and often eject offensive black faecal liquids when threatened. Accordingly, they frighten nervous persons and they may chew carpets and fabrics. They most often emerge into the open after rain during summer, which also is when they are likeliest to be found indoors. Commonly they are most active at night. They have also been called "crickets from hell". A popular urban legend, propagated by April Fools' Day articles published by the Johannesburg newspaper The Star, claims that the Parktown prawn was the result of a 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 size, strength and vivid orange colouring are presented as confirmation of the idea. The Parktown prawn has found its way into South African popular culture. Andrew Buckland's 1988 play The Ugly Noo Noo used Parktown prawns as part of an extended parody of South African politics of the time. They feature in the daily comic strip Madam & Eve. The aliens in the film District 9 resemble