Gryllacrididae | |
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Hyalogryllacris sp. fabricating silk | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Orthoptera |
Suborder: | Ensifera |
Superfamily: | Stenopelmatoidea |
Family: | Gryllacrididae Blanchard, 1845 |
Subfamilies | |
Synonyms | |
Gryllacrididae are a family of non-jumping insects in the suborder Ensifera occurring worldwide, known commonly as leaf-rolling crickets or raspy crickets. The family historically has been broadly defined to include what are presently several other families, such as Stenopelmatidae ("Jerusalem crickets") and Rhaphidophoridae ("camel crickets"),[1] now considered separate. As presently defined, the family contains two subfamilies: Gryllacridinae and Hyperbaeninae.[2] They are commonly wingless and nocturnal. In the daytime, most species rest in shelters made from folded leaves sewn with silk. Some species use silk to burrow in sand, earth or wood.[3] Raspy crickets evolved the ability to produce silk independently from other insects, but their silk has many convergent features to silkworm silk, being made of long, repetitive proteins with an extended beta-sheet structure.[4]