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, wētā, and Cooloola monsters. This and the suborder Caelifera (grasshoppers and their allies) make up the order Orthoptera. Unlike the Caelifera, the Ensifera contain numerous members that are partially carnivorous, feeding on other insects, as well as plants.
Fossils of the early stem-ensiferan Raphogla from the Early Permian around 290-275 million years ago indicate that the group had split from Caelifera by this time.Bethoux, O., Nel, A., Lapeyrie, J., Gand, G., Galtier, J., 2002. Raphogla rubra gen. n., sp. n., the oldest representative of the clade of modern Ensifera (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae, Gryllidea). Eur. J. Entomol. 99, 111–116.
Ensifer is Latin for "sword bearer", and refers to the typically elongated and blade-like ovipositor of the females.
Characteristics Characteristics shared by the two orthopteran suborders, Caelifera and Ensifera, are the mouthparts adapted for biting and chewing, the modified prothorax, the hind legs modified for jumping, the wing shape and venation, and the sound-producing stridulatory organs.
Ensiferans are distinguished from Caeliferans by their elongated, threadlike antennae, which are often longer than the length of their bodies and have over 30 segments (except in the subterranean Cooloolidae family). For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as "long-horned orthopterans". In the families in which the males sing, the fore wings have modifications that include toothed veins and scrapers for making the noise, and the surrounding membranous areas amplify the sound. In these groups, the sound-detecting tympanal organs are located on the tibiae of the front legs. The tarsi have three segments and the ovipositor is blade-like or needle-like. The male attaches the spermatophore externally to the female's gonopore. The spermatophore is often surrounded by a proteinaceous spermatophylax, the function of which is to provide a nutritional nuptial gift to the female.
Taxonomy
The Orthoptera Species File database lists the following superfamilies and families. Infraorder †Elcanidea? (affinities of elcanoids to Ensifera is disputed) Superfamily †Elcanoidea Family †Elcanidae (Late Triassic - Paleocene) Family †Permelcanidae (Early Permian - Late Triassic) Superfamily †Permoraphidioidea Family †Permoraphidiidae (Permian) Family †Pseudelcanidae (Early Permian) Family †Thueringoedischiidae (Early Permian) Family incertae sedis Genus †Acridiites Infraorder Gryllidea Superfamily Grylloidea Family †Baissogryllidae Family Gryllidae - true crickets Family Mogoplistidae - scaly crickets Family Phalangopsidae Family †Protogryllidae Family Trigonidiidae Superfamily Gryllotalpoidea Orthoptera Species File (Version 5.0/5.0) Family Gryllotalpidae – mole crickets Family Myrmecophilidae - ant crickets Infraorder †Oedischiidea Superfamily †Oedischioidea Family †Anelcanidae Family †Bintoniellidae Family †Mesoedischiidae Family †Oedischiidae Family †Proparagryllacrididae Family †Pruvostitidae Family incertae sedis Genus †Crinoedischia Genus †Loxoedischia Superfamily †Triassomantoidea Family †Adumbratomorphidae Family †Triassomantidae Superfamily †Xenopteroidea Family †Xenopteridae Superfamily incertae sedis family †Permotettigoniidae Family incertae sedis Genus †Permophyllum Infraorder Tettigoniidea Superfamily Hagloidea - grigs Family †Eospilopteronidae Family †Haglidae Family †Hagloedischiidae Family †Prezottophlebiidae Family Prophalangopsidae Family †Tuphellidae Superfamily †Phasmomimoidea Family †Phasmomimidae Superfamily Rhaphidophoroidea Family Rhaphidophoridae - camel crickets, cave crickets, cave weta Superfamily Schizodactyloidea Family Schizodactylidae - dune or splay-footed crickets Superfamily Stenopelmatoidea Family Anostostomatidae - weta (except cave weta), king crickets Family Cooloolidae - Cooloola monsters Family Gryllacrididae - leaf-rolling crickets Family Stenopelmatidae - Jerusalem crickets Superfamily Tettigonioidea Family †Haglotettigoniidae Family Tettigoniidae Krauss, 1902 - bush crickets, katydids, koringkrieks Superfamily Incertae sedis Family incertae sedis Genus †Tettoraptor Infraorder incertae sedis Superfamily †Gryllavoidea Family †Gryllavidae Superfamily Incertae sedis Family †Palaeorehniidae (syn "Zeuneropterinae") Family †Vitimiidae
Phylogeny
The phylogenetic relationships of the Ensifera, summarized by Darryl Gwynne in 1995 from his own work and that of earlier authors, are shown in the following cladogram, with the Orthoptera divided into two main groups, Ensifera and Caelifera (grasshoppers). Fossil Ensifera are found from the late Carboniferous period onwards.
The oldest known fossil in the Archaeorthoptera, the crown group of the Orthoptera, and also the oldest member of the Pterygota (winged insects), is from the Namurian (324 mya) Lower Carboniferous beds in the Upper Silesian Basin of the Czech Republic.
Notes
References
External links The Orthopterists' Society