Orthoptera
(Crickets, Grasshoppers & Katydid)
Orthoptera (from Ancient Greek ὀρθός (orthós) ‘straight’ and πτερά (pterá) ‘wings’) is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grasshoppers, locusts, and close relatives; and Ensifera – crickets and close relatives.
More than 20,000 species are distributed worldwide. The insects in the order have incomplete metamorphosis, and produce sound (known as a “stridulation”) by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps.
Suborder : Ensifera
Superfamily : Grylloidea
Grylloidea is the superfamily of insects, in the order Orthoptera, known as crickets. It includes the “true crickets”, scaly crickets, wood crickets and many other subfamilies, now placed in six extant families; some genera are only known from fossils.
The features which distinguish crickets in the superfamily Grylloidea from other Ensiferans are long, thread-like antennae, three tarsal segments, slender tactile cerci at the tip of the abdomen and bulbous sensory bristles on the cerci. They are the only insects to share this combination of characteristics.
Superfamily : Gryllotalpoidea
The Gryllotalpoidea are a superfamily of insects that includes the mole crickets and the ant crickets.
Superfamily : Rhaphidophoridae
The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae of the suborder Ensifera has a worldwide distribution. Common names for these insects include cave crickets, camel crickets and spider crickets
Superfamily : Stenopelmatoidea
In most classifications, Stenopelmatoidea consists of four families:
Anostostomatidae – wētā, king crickets
Cooloolidae – Cooloola monsters
Gryllacrididae – leaf-rolling crickets
Stenopelmatidae – Jerusalem crickets
Superfamily : Tettigoniidae
Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids. More than 8,000 species are known.
Many species are nocturnal in habit, having strident mating calls and may exhibit mimicry or camouflage, commonly with shapes and colours similar to leaves.
Suborder : Caelifera
The Caelifera are a suborder of orthopteran insects. They include the grasshoppers and grasshopper-like insects, as well as other superfamilies classified with them: the ground-hoppers (Tetrigoidea) and pygmy mole crickets (Tridactyloidea).
Superfamily : Acridoidea
Acridoidea is the largest superfamily of grasshoppers in the order Orthoptera with over 11,000 species found on every continent except Antarctica.
Superfamily : Eumastacoidea
Eumastacoidea is a superfamily within the order Orthoptera, suborder Caelifera. The family has a mainly tropical distribution and has sometimes been called “monkey grasshoppers”.
Superfamily : Pyrgomorphidae
Pyrgomorphidae is a family of grasshoppers in the order Orthoptera; it is the only family in the superfamily Pyrgomorphoidea. Pyrgomorphidae are found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate regions (though none are from US mainland), but the vast majority of the family’s approximately 500 species are from Africa, Asia and Australia.
Their name is probably derived from pyrgos (Greek: Πύργος) meaning “tower”: a reference to the form (morph) of the head in the type genus Pyrgomorpha and other genera.
They may sometimes be known as “gaudy grasshoppers”, due to the striking, bright aposematic colouration of a number of genera, warning of their toxicity. However, about 90% of the species in the family are harmless and well-camouflaged
Superfamily : Tetrigidae
Tetrigidae is an ancient family in the order Orthoptera, which also includes similar families such as crickets, grasshoppers, and their allies. Species within the Tetrigidae are variously called groundhoppers, pygmy grasshoppers, pygmy devils or (mostly historical) “grouse locusts”.