It is threatened by habitat loss, and is currently only found in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Arkansas.

Males aggregate their acoustic burrows in a lek arena and are very sensitive to vibrations carried through the ground.

The species is the largest of the North American crickets, measuring up to 5 cm long, weighing up to 2.6 g, and is typically brown to reddish-brown in color.

[3][4] Like other mole crickets (Gryllotalpidae), G. major has a bullet-shaped, heavy pronotum and large robust fore limbs used for digging complex burrows.

[7] G. major is native to tall grass prairie ecosystems and occupies a small range in the southcentral United States, found only in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

[8] Prescribed burning is common throughout the prairie habitat of G. major and usually occurs during March and April, at the beginning of the reproductive season of the cricket.

The warmer soil as a result of the fire is thought to have metabolic advantages for the cricket, allowing them to increase their chirp frequency, and overall the burned land allows their song to travel more efficiently, increasing to attraction of females to the area.

[9] The males of G. major build an acoustic burrow in prairie soil arranged in a lek-like arena and perform an acoustic sexual advertisement call for the female of the species by singing from these calling chambers while the female flies overhead, making her choice.

[5] Research into the mating behaviour of G. major found they fit the three main criteria of a classical lek system.