Orthoptera

Orthoptera
Temporal range: Carboniferous–recent 359–0 Ma
Roesel's bush-cricket
family Tettigoniidae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Infraclass: Neoptera
Cohort: Polyneoptera
Order: Orthoptera
Latreille, 1793
Extant suborders and superfamilies

Suborder Ensifera

Suborder Caelifera

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.[1] 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. The tympanum, or ear, is located in the front tibia in crickets, mole crickets, and bush crickets or katydids, and on the first abdominal segment in the grasshoppers and locusts.[2] These organisms use vibrations to locate other individuals.

Grasshoppers and other orthopterans are able to fold their wings (i.e. they are members of Neoptera).

  1. ^ "Orthoptera - Grasshoppers, Locusts, Crickets, Katydids". Discover Life. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference IIBD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).