Transcript Orthopteroid Orders

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Gullen & Cranston 2005
Fig. 7.2
PLECOPTERA, stoneflies
AQUATIC as immatures
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grasshoppers,
katydids, crickets
generalized,
chewing
mouthparts
well-developed,
thin antennae
forewings = leathery “tegmina”
Complex wing veination
some characteristics
typical of orthopterans,
especially those in the
suborder CAELIFERA,
grasshoppers
hind femora often “saltatory”
single-segmented cerci
suborder CAELIFERA:
grasshoppers, locusts
short, stout antennae
diurnal
“substitutional ovipositor”,
the abdomen flexed with stretchy
cuticle as an egg-inserting device
“pod” of many eggs
• Incomplete, or gradual
metamorphosis
Aposematism
• Vegetarian diet
• Hopping legs
Locusts, specialized grasshoppers
Kentromorphism (a type of
polymorphism), phase change
between generations
Major historical impacts:
Biblical times to present;
determined pattern of settlement of
western United States.
Recommended reading!
http://images.google.com
“Just
…butanother
more seriously.
day’s catch…”
very long legs
long, delicate antennae
May have
hearing organs
in forelegs
eggs laid singly
nocturnal
stout, specialized ovipositor
Order ORTHOPTERA, Suborder ENSIFERA: katydids & crickets
crypsis/mimesis
Crunch
crunch,
crunch
in the night;
lunch,
lunch,
lunch
after the fight.
A nocturnal, warrior-like,
predaceous katydid.
The more
nativefamiliar
New Zealand
“weta”,
an ecological
The
Jerusalem
crickets
are similar
analog
of are
granivorous
to the weta,
both
burrowingrodents.
Orthopteroids.
http://www.utexas.edu/tmm
Camel & Cave Crickets
http://www.utexas.edu/tmm
p://www.moleplace.com/images/townsend2.gif
Mole cricket, a striking
morphological analog of a
fossorial vertebrate.
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 reevolved 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.)
DERMAPTERA
Earwig elements
Forceps-like cerci, used for
prey-grasping,
mating, or defense (mainly a
ruse). May be vestigial in some
species.
DERMAPTERA, earwigs
Very weird species.
Hemimerus talpoides,
a parasite of African rodents
Arixenia esau,
SE Asian parasite of bats
males,
polymorphic: sexuallyselected cerci (“pincers”)
female
Forficula auricularia, the European earwig,
among the most common North American insects
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
Economically important
cockroaches number
only a dozen or so
species. Some “tramp”
species now have a
worldwide distribution.
Blattella germanica
Blatta orientalis
Photo: K. R. Williams
Female Madegascar hissing cockroach with brood (viviparous). Some
roaches show primitive social behavior.
flexible
neck/rotating
head
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raptoral femur/tibia
widely-spaced binocular
(3-D) eyes
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enlarged,
floating
coxa
MANTODEA, mantids,
“predaceous cockroaches”?
Mantids: experts at crypsis, sit-&-wait predation
stick-like
flower-like
“I’m going out of my head over you…”
(Luther VanDross, ca. 1966)
Males may contribute more than sperm!
extreme polymorphism is the norm
many are “econonomic “ pests
ISOPTERA, termites (all are eusocial; none are haplodiploid)
Construction by blind workers
termite nests
Aerial nests from SE Asia
termite nests, Australia
“nasute” soldiers squirting glue to entrap an enemy
The “coolest” insects!
GRYLLOBLATTODEA, grylloblattids
(“glacierbugs”, “rockcrawlers”); limited to paraglacial habitats
on mountains in W. North America and NE Asia
EMBIOPTERA, webspinners
silk glands
A newly recognized insect order.
Source: http://www.sungaya.de/oz/gladiator/index.htm (10 July 2003)
MANTOPHASMATODEA, “heel-walkers, a.k.a. gladiators”
long known from museum specimens, rediscovered in
Namibia, described in 2002
Z
is for …
ZORAPTERA, zorapterans.
Enigmatic, tiny, termite-like
cellulose feeders but
solitary.
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