ORTHOPTEROIDORTHOPTEROID Orders Orders

Orthopteroid orders INSECT DIVERSITY: ORDERS 37% Species 5-8% Gullen & Cranston 2005 Fig. 7.2

PLECOPTERA, stoneflies AQUATIC as immatures

ORTHOPTERAORTHOPTERA grasshoppers, katydids, crickets

well-developed, thin antennae forewings = leathery “tegmina” hind femora often “saltatory” some characteristics typical of orthopterans, especially those in the suborder CAELIFERA, grasshoppers generalized, chewing mouthparts single-segmented cerci Complex wing veination

“substitutional ovipositor”, the abdomen flexed with stretchy cuticle as an egg-inserting device “pod” of many eggs CAELIFERA suborder CAELIFERA: grasshoppers, locusts short, stout antennae diurnal

Incomplete, or gradual metamorphosis Aposematism 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 Recommended 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 Crickets

Mole cricket, a striking morphological analog of a fossorial vertebrate. p://

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 some species. DERMAPTERA Earwig 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 pest species: (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 elongateelongate prothorax 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 “ pests extreme 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: (10 July 2003)

ZORAPTERA, zorapterans. Enigmatic, tiny, termite-like cellulose feeders but solitary. Z is for …

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