Schizodactylidae Temporal range: | |
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Schizodactylus monstrosus from Rajasthan | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Orthoptera |
Suborder: | Ensifera |
Superfamily: | Schizodactyloidea |
Family: | Schizodactylidae Karny, 1927 |
Synonyms | |
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Schizodactylidae is a family of orthopteran insects found in Asia and southern Africa, known as dune crickets or splay-footed crickets. They are usually found in desert and sandy areas. Species are predatory, including Schizodactylus inexspectatus . [2] T. B. Fletcher notes that one captive individual did not feed on any vegetable matter. [3] Fossils are known since the Early Cretaceous. [4]
One extinct and two extant genera in the subfamily Schizodactylinae [5] are included:
Authority: Brullé, 1835; distribution: mainland Asia
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.
The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae of the suborder Ensifera has a worldwide distribution. Common names for these insects include cave crickets, camel crickets, Hogan bugs, spider crickets, land shrimp, and sand treaders. Those occurring in New Zealand are typically referred to as jumping or cave wētā. Most are found in forest environments or within caves, animal burrows, cellars, under stones, or in wood or similar environments. All species are flightless and nocturnal, usually with long antennae and legs. More than 500 species of Rhaphidophoridae are described.
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.
The Caelifera are a suborder of orthopteran insects. They include the grasshoppers and grasshopper-like insects, as well as other superfamilies classified with them: the ground-hoppers (Tetrigoidea) and pygmy mole crickets (Tridactyloidea). The latter should not be confused with the mole crickets (Gryllotalpidae), which belong to the other Orthopteran sub-order Ensifera.
Comicus is a genus of southern African Orthopteran insects of the family Schizodactylidae, erected by Brunner von Wattenwyl in 1888.
The Euphasmatodea, also known by its junior synonym Verophasmatodea is a suborder of the Phasmatodea, which contains the vast majority of the extant species of stick and leaf insects, excluding the Timematodea. The oldest record of Euphasmatodea is Araripephasma from the Crato Formation of Brazil, dating to the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous.
The subfamily Pseudophyllinae contains numerous species in the family Tettigoniidae, the katydids or bush crickets. Sometimes called "true katydids", together with the crickets of suborder Ensifera, they form part of the insect order Orthoptera which also contains grasshoppers.
Schizodactylus monstrosus or the maize cricket, is a species of large, robust cricket found in Asia, belonging to the family Schizodactylidae. It is found mainly in sandy habitats along rivers, and has large flattened tarsal extensions and wings that are curled at the tip, right above the cerci. They are nocturnal and show a high degree of variation in activity during the day and night. They hide in burrows that they dig on their own during the day.
Schizodactylus inexspectatus is a species of dune cricket (Schizodactylidae) endemic to sand dunes of Çukurova and Göksu Deltas, Turkey.
Tridactyloidea is a superfamily in the order Orthoptera. The insects are sometimes known as pygmy mole crickets but they are Caelifera and not members of the mole cricket suborder Ensifera, unlike the true mole crickets, the Gryllotalpidae. It is composed of three families that contain a total of about 50 species. Insects in this superfamily can be 4 to 9 millimeters in length and generally have short antennae and long wings. They live along the banks of bodies of water in tropical areas and are good swimmers and jumpers. Fossils of this subfamily have been found in Siberian deposits dating back to the Cretaceous.
Gryllacridinae is an Orthopteran subfamily in the family Gryllacrididae.
Scaphura is a Neotropical genus of bush crickets in the subfamily Phaneropterinae. Some of the species within Scaphura are Batesian mimics of wasps, for example the type species, Scaphura nigra, is a polymorphic Batesian mimic of wasps of the genus Pepsis and Entypus (Pompilidae) and the potter wasps Polistes (Vespidae). The genus is restricted to South America. Another genus of Neotropical phaneropterine bush crickets, Aganacris, also are Batesian mimics of wasps.
The infraorder Tridactylidea has a single extant superfamily which includes pygmy mole crickets; they are thought to represent living representatives of the most basal Caelifera: the Orthopteran suborder that includes grasshoppers.
The Orthopteran subfamily Aemodogryllinae contains about sixteen genera of camel crickets. It was named after AemodogryllusAdelung, 1902 - which is now considered a subgenus of Diestrammena.
Hyperbaeninae is a subfamily of Orthopterans, sometimes known as 'leaf-folding crickets' in the family Gryllacrididae; Hyperbaenus ensifer is the type species. The known distribution includes tropical: central and southern America, Africa and mainland Asia to Australasia.
Hyperbaenus is a genus of South American Orthopterans, sometimes known as 'leaf-folding crickets' in the family Gryllacridinae. It is the type genus for its tribe Hyperbaenini and the new subfamily Hyperbaeninae.
Paragryllacris is a genus of Australian Orthopterans, sometimes known as 'leaf-folding crickets' in the family Gryllacridinae, erected by the Swiss entomologist Carl Brunner von Wattenwyl in 1888. It is fairly typical for its tribe Paragryllacridini. However, in a large comparison of 650 insect species, Australian Raspy Crickets were found to be the insect with the strongest bite.
Poecilimon is a genus of bush crickets in the subfamily Phaneropterinae and tribe Barbitistini. Species can be found in: central and Southeast Europe, the south of the European part of the former USSR, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, the Caucasus, Persia and extends in Central Asia to the Altai mountains.
Melaneremus is a genus of Orthopterans, sometimes known as 'leaf-folding crickets' in the subfamily Gryllacridinae and tribe Gryllacridini. The recorded distribution is: the Indian subcontinent, China, Indochina, western Malesia and western Pacific islands.
Neanias is a genus of Orthopterans, sometimes known as 'leaf-folding crickets' in the subfamily Gryllacridinae and tribe Gryllacridini. The recorded distribution is: Indian subcontinent, Japan, Hainan, Indochina, and western Malesia (Sumatra).