Orthoptera (crickets, grasshoppers and locusts)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Phylum: Arthopoda > Mandibulata > Atelocerata > Panhexapoda > Hexapoda > Insecta (insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota > Metapterygota > Neoptera > Polyneoptera > Anartioptera > Orthopterida

Henicus brevimucronatus, known only from Newlands Forest in the Cape Peninsula.

Grasshopper (family: Acrididae)

Foaming grasshopper Dictyophorus spumans (family Pyrgomorphidae). Poisonous!

The main defining character of the Orthoptera is the fact that they have the hind legs adapted for jumping: the femur is broad because it contains muscles for extending the leg quickly.

Many people get confused between grasshoppers and locusts usually thinking that a large grasshopper is a locust. In fact, locusts are limited to a few species of grasshoppers which go into a swarming phase forming massive swarms that can cause immense destruction to crops and pastures.

Classification

Order: Orthoptera

• Suborder: Ensifera (have elongate, bendy, antennae with many segments)
  • Family: Stenopelmatidae (king crickets)
  • Family: Anostostomatidae (wetas, including Parktown prawn)
  • Family: Gryllacrididae
  • Family: Schizodactylidae (dune crickets)
  • Family: Rhaphidophoridae (cave crickets)
  • Family: Tettigoniidae (katidids, koringkrieks)
  • Family: Gryllidae (crickets)
  • Family: Gryllotalpidae (mole crickets)

• Suborder: Caelifera (short, straight antennae)
  • Family: Pneumoridae (bladder grasshoppers)
  • Family: Pamphagidae (toad grasshoppers)
  • Family: Pyrgomorphidae (gaudy grasshoppers)
  • Family: Acrididae (grasshoppers and locusts)
  • Family: Tetrigidae (pygmy grasshoppers)
  • Family: Tridactylidae (pygmy mole crickets)

 Links

• Orthoptera Species File Online. A catalogue of Orthoptera species of the world, including photos of some of them.

• Tree of Life: Orthoptera. Shows the higher level classification of the Orthoptera, discusses their characteristics and phylogenetic relationships.

• The Orthopterists' Society. A well presented site that includes a literature database and links and photo gallery.

Publications

• Lomer, C.J., Bateman, R.P., Johnson, D.L., Langewald, J. & Thomas, M. 2001. Biological control of locusts and grasshoppers. Annual Review of Entomology 46: 667-702.