Cooloola monster | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Orthoptera |
Suborder: | Ensifera |
Family: | Cooloolidae |
Genus: | Cooloola |
Species: | C. propator |
Binomial name | |
Cooloola propator Rentz, 1980 | |
The Cooloola monster (Cooloola propator) is a large burrowing orthopteran of the family Cooloolidae, a family erected to accommodate it because it is so dissimilar to other ensiferans. It was discovered in 1980 in the Great Sandy National Park in Queensland, Australia, by David C. Rentz. [1] Further members of the genus Cooloola were later discovered at other locations in Queensland.
The Cooloola monster is a robust subterranean insect, characterised by very short antennae with ten bead-like segments. This contrasts with other members of the suborder Ensifera which have thirty or more segments. [2] The sexes are different, the male being brownish and well-sclerotized (armoured), while the female has a relatively soft exoskeleton and is usually whitish in colour, as are the juveniles. Males have short wings and fully functional eyes, while females have no wings and their eyes have a flat cornea and few facets. The mouthparts are also unusual for ensiferans, having a knife-shaped lacinia (tip of the maxilla) and small elongated mandibles. These mouthparts suggest that the insect is predatory. In the related species Cooloola ziljan , the lacinia has been observed in use as a digging tool. The legs are adapted for burrowing and the hind legs bear flattened spines for this purpose. The fore and mid-legs are about the same length and the hind-legs rather larger. The shape of the femur and the degree of spination of the tibia differ between males and females. The tarsus is elongate and dorso-ventrally flattened in males, and shorter and less flattened in females. The male has a slender abdomen but the female's abdomen is bulbous with a very short ovipositor. [1]
Very little is known of the natural history of this insect. The male is sometimes seen on the surface at night but the female seems to remain permanently underground. The insects live in sandy soil near streams under Australian sheoak trees and are occasionally found hiding under stones or logs. [2]
Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids, or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the suborder Ensifera, the Tettigoniidae are the only extant (living) family in the superfamily Tettigonioidea.
Anostostomatidae is a family of insects in the order Orthoptera, widely distributed in the southern hemisphere. It is named Mimnermidae or Henicidae in some taxonomies, and common names include king crickets in Australia and South Africa, and wētā in New Zealand. Prominent members include the Parktown prawn of South Africa, and the giant wētā of New Zealand. The distribution of this family reflects a common ancestry before the fragmenting of Gondwana.
Mole crickets are members of the insect family Gryllotalpidae, in the order Orthoptera. Mole crickets are cylindrical-bodied, fossorial insects about 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long as adults, with small eyes and shovel-like fore limbs highly developed for burrowing. They are present in many parts of the world and where they have arrived in new regions, may become agricultural pests.
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago.
Cooloola is a genus of ensiferan orthopterans known as Cooloola monsters. It is the only genus in the subfamily Cooloolinae and family Cooloolidae of the superfamily Stenopelmatoidea.
Ensifera is a suborder of insects that includes the various types of crickets and their allies including: true crickets, camel crickets, bush crickets or katydids, grigs, weta and Cooloola monsters. This and the suborder Caelifera make up the order Orthoptera. Ensifera is believed to be a more ancient group than Caelifera, with its origins in the Carboniferous period, the split having occurred at the end of the Permian period. Unlike the Caelifera, the Ensifera contain numerous members that are partially carnivorous, feeding on other insects, as well as plants.
This glossary of entomology describes terms used in the formal study of insect species by entomologists.
Eurycnema goliath, commonly known as the goliath stick insect, or the regal stick insect, is a large species of stick insect in the family Phasmatidae, endemic to Australia and considered one of the largest species of stick insects in the country. The species has the Phasmid Study Group number PSG14.
Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms, "crickets" were placed at the family level, but contemporary authorities including Otte now place them in the superfamily Grylloidea. The word has been used in combination to describe more distantly related taxa in the suborder Ensifera, such as king crickets and mole crickets.
The external morphology of Lepidoptera is the physiological structure of the bodies of insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera, also known as butterflies and moths. Lepidoptera are distinguished from other orders by the presence of scales on the external parts of the body and appendages, especially the wings. Butterflies and moths vary in size from microlepidoptera only a few millimetres long, to a wingspan of many inches such as the Atlas moth. Comprising over 160,000 described species, the Lepidoptera possess variations of the basic body structure which has evolved to gain advantages in adaptation and distribution.
Doru aculeatum, the spine-tailed earwig, is an insect in the family Forficulidae. This earwig is found in the woods and grassy areas of eastern North America and occurs at outdoor lights at night.
Coxoplectoptera or "chimera wings" is an extinct order of stem-group mayflies containing one family, Mickoleitiidae.
Cebrionini is a tribe of click beetles from the family Elateridae; formerly ranked as a subfamily or family, they are now considered a tribe within the subfamily Elaterinae.
The Tridactylidae are a family in the insect order Orthoptera. They are small, mole-cricket-like insects, almost always less than 20 mm (0.79 in) long when mature. Generally they are shiny, dark or black, sometimes variegated or sandy-coloured. They commonly live in short tunnels and are commonly known as pygmy mole crickets, though they are not closely related to the true "mole crickets" (Ensifera), as they are included in the Caelifera suborder.
Grylloidea is the superfamily of insects, in the order Orthoptera, known as crickets. It includes the "true crickets", scaly crickets, wood crickets and other families, some only known from fossils.
Odonata are insects with an incomplete metamorphosis (hemimetabolous). The aquatic larva or nymph hatches from an egg, and develops through eight to seventeen instars before leaving the water and emerging as the winged adult or imago.
Neoitamus cyanurus, the common awl robberfly, is a species of 'robber fly' belonging to the family Asilidae.
Usazoros hubbardi, commonly known as Hubbard's angel insect, is a species of insect in the order Zoraptera. It is native to the tropical and subtropical New World and has expanded its range into the eastern United States, where it lives in piles of sawdust, whereas in the hotter part of its range it lives under the bark of decomposing logs. It was named after the American entomologist Henry Guernsey Hubbard, who discovered the insect in the United States.
Miroceramia is a monotypic genus of stick insects, containing Miroceramia westwoodii as the only described species. It is the only fully winged one of the subfamily Obriminae.
Orestes bachmaensis is a Phasmatodea species native to central Vietnam.