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Order
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Orthoptera
by John Jackman
Common names: grasshoppers, crickets, katydids
Metamorphosis:
paurometabolous
Mouthparts: chewing
Key Characteristics: front pair of wings parchment-like, long antennae
and various leg modifications. Orthoptera generally have two pairs of
wings with many veins. The front pair is usually slender and the hind
pair is broad and fan-like. Wings are reduced to small pads in some grasshoppers
and crickets.
Biology: Nymphs resemble the adults. Adults in several groups in
this order never develop wings. These include such odd insects as the
cave crickets. The order Orthoptera is a large one. Some members of this
group are quite destructive to crops (grasshoppers).
Name derivation: Orthoptera = Latin for straight (ortho); wings(ptera)
Grasshoppers by Daniel Otte
Grasshoppers and Katydids
RECOGNIZING
SOME GROUPS OF ORTHOPTERA
In the past, the order Orthoptera included mantids, walkingsticks,
cockroaches and rock crawlers. Each of these other groups is now considered
a separate order.
[Note that this list includes only some of the most prominent groups.
There are other families and subfamilies. All family names of animals
end in -idae and all subfamily names end in -inae.]
Suborder: Caelifera
Tetrigidae - Pygmy Grasshoppers
Acrididae - Short-horned Grasshoppers
Romelinae - Lubbers
Cytacanthacridinae - Spur-throated Grasshoppers
Acridinae - Slant-faced Grasshoppers
Oedipodinae - Band-winged Grasshoppers
Suborder: Ensifera
Tettigonidae - Long-horned Grasshoppers
and Katydids
Copiphorinae - Cone-headed Grasshoppers
Phaneropterinae - Katydids
Pseudophyllinae - True Katydids
Gryllacrididae -
Rhaphidophorinae - Cave and Camel Crickets
Stenopelmatinae - Jerusalem, Sand, or Stone Crickets
Gryllidae - Crickets
Oecanthinae - Tree Crickets
Gryllinae - House and Field Crickets
Gryllotalpidae - Mole Crickets
Territory Defense and Courtship in Crickets (Acheta domestica)
Breeding and raising the house cricket
(Acheta domestica)
Providing
Food for Insectivorous Animals, Saint Louis Zoo
* Almost all Orthoptera feed on plants. However, there are
a few species that are predators especially on other Orthoptera.
Planet Pets
* The Rocky Mountain locust, Melanoplus spretus, has
gone extinct in the last hundred years. However, you can still collect
specimens that have been frozen in a glacier.
Grasshopper Glacier, USDA Forest
Service
Rocky Mountain Locust, North Dakota
State University
University of Florida Book of Insect
Records
Endangered Insects
* The snowy tree cricket can be used as a thermometer. Counting
the chirps and calculating the temperature works because insects are cold
blooded or poikilothermic.
Cricket Thermometer, Chain Reaction
Hygrometer & Cricket Thermometer,
Minnetonka Public Schools
Cricket Thermometer, Kid Stacy
Cricket Thermometer, South Weber
Weather Porch
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