ORTHOPTEROID

Orders

Orthopteroid orders

INSECT DIVERSITY:ORDERS 37%Species 5-8%

Gullen & Cranston 2005Fig. 7.2

PLECOPTERA, stonefliesAQUATIC as immatures

ORTHOPTERA

grasshoppers, katydids, crickets

well-developed,thin antennae

forewings = leathery “tegmina”

hind femora often “saltatory”

some characteristicstypical of orthopterans, especially those in the suborder CAELIFERA,grasshoppers

generalized,chewingmouthparts

single-segmented cerci

Complex wing veination

“substitutional ovipositor”,the abdomen flexed with stretchy cuticle as an egg-inserting device

“pod” of many eggs

suborder CAELIFERACAELIFERA: grasshoppers, locusts

short, stout antennae

diurnal

• Incomplete, or gradual metamorphosisAposematism• Vegetarian diet• Hopping legs

Kentromorphism (a type of polymorphism), phase change between generations

Major historical impacts:Biblical times to present; determined pattern of settlement of western United States.

Locusts, specialized grasshoppers

http://images.google.comRecommended reading!

“Just another day’s catch…”…but more seriously.

Order ORTHOPTERA, Suborder ENSIFERA: katydids & crickets

stout, specialized ovipositor

long, delicate antennae

nocturnal

eggs laid singly

May have hearing organs in forelegs

very long legs

crypsis/mimesis

A nocturnal, warrior-like, predaceous katydid.

Crunch crunch, crunch in the night; lunch, lunch,lunch after the fight.

The native New Zealand “weta”, an ecological analog of granivorous rodents.

The more familiar Jerusalem crickets are similar to the weta, both are burrowing Orthopteroids.

Camel & Cave Cricketshttp://www.utexas.edu/tmm

http://www.utexas.edu/tmm

Mole cricket, a striking morphological analog of a

fossorial vertebrate.

p://www.moleplace.com/images/townsend2.gif

PHASMATODEA, stick & leaf insects

Sexual dimorphism is the norm in stick insects. In most species, the male is the winged, dispersing sex, female apterous.

Parthenogenesis is common; in some well-studied species the male has never been observed.

All early stick insects were wingless. Millions of years later, the wing was re-evolved in some genera, apparently from latent genes. It has all the features of the archtypal insect wing.

Tropical stick insect eggs may “rain” from the forest canopy. They not only look like seeds but, like some seeds, may lie in diapause for months or years before hatching.

Phasmid -- NOT!

(Stick insects do not hop.)

Forceps-like cerci, used for prey-grasping,mating, or defense (mainly a ruse). May be vestigial in somespecies.

DERMAPTERAEarwig elements

DERMAPTERA, earwigs

female

males,polymorphic: sexually-selected cerci (“pincers”)

Forficula auricularia, the European earwig,among the most common North American insects

Hemimerus talpoides,a parasite of African rodents

Arixenia esau,SE Asian parasite of bats

Very weird species.

Brood tending: primitive social

behavior in earwigs.

… & an earwig stamp! Cool or what?

BLATTODEA, cockroaches

Australian “bush”roach

Some economic pestspecies:(L to R) German,Oriental, & American

Blattella germanica

Blatta orientalis

Economically important cockroaches number only a dozen or so species. Some “tramp” species now have a worldwide distribution.

Female Madegascar hissing cockroach with brood (viviparous). Some roaches show primitive social behavior.

Photo: K. R. Williams

MANTODEA, mantids, “predaceous cockroaches”?

flexible neck/rotating head

enlarged, floating coxa

elongate

prothorax

raptoral femur/tibia

widely-spaced binocular (3-D) eyes

stick-like flower-like

Mantids: experts at crypsis, sit-&-wait predation

Males may contribute more than sperm!

“I’m going out of my head over you…”

(Luther VanDross, ca. 1966)

ISOPTERA, termites (all are eusocial; none are haplodiploid)

many are “econonomic “ pestsextreme polymorphism is the norm

termite nests

Construction by blind workers

Aerial nests from SE Asia

termite nests, Australia

“nasute” soldiers squirting glue to entrap an enemy

GRYLLOBLATTODEA, grylloblattids(“glacierbugs”, “rockcrawlers”); limited to paraglacial habitats

on mountains in W. North America and NE Asia

The “coolest” insects!

EMBIOPTERA, webspinners

silk glands

A newly recognized insect order.

MANTOPHASMATODEA, “heel-walkers, a.k.a. gladiators”long known from museum specimens, rediscovered in

Namibia, described in 2002

Source: http://www.sungaya.de/oz/gladiator/index.htm (10 July 2003)

ZORAPTERA, zorapterans. Enigmatic, tiny, termite-like cellulose feeders but solitary.

Z is for …

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