Orthopterology is the scientific study of the order
Orthoptera
Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grassho ...
, which includes
grasshopper
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.
Grasshopp ...
s,
crickets
Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 8 ...
,
locust
Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstanc ...
s and some other insects. Someone that studies in this field is an orthopterist.
The term is derived from the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
words and , meaning ''straight'' and ''wing'' respectively, with the English suffix ''
-logy
''-logy'' is a suffix in the English language, used with words originally adapted from Ancient Greek ending in ('). The earliest English examples were anglicizations of the French '' -logie'', which was in turn inherited from the Latin '' -log ...
''.
[This ultimately derives from Greek , but via Latin ''-logia'' and French ''-logie''. ]
Orthopterology as a science
A notable branch of orthopterology is , which focuses on locusts and grasshoppers in the family
Acrididae
The AcrididaeMacLeay WS (1821) ''Horae Entomologicae or Essays on the Annulose Animals'' 2 are the predominant family of grasshoppers, comprising some 10,000 of the 11,000 species of the entire suborder Caelifera. The Acrididae are best known bec ...
and is relevant to famine prevention.
Orthopterological societies
* Association for Applied Acridology International
*
Orthopterists' Society
The Orthopterists' Society (formerly the Pan American Acridological Society) is an international scientific organization devoted to facilitating communication and research among persons interested in Orthoptera and related organisms. (The Orthopter ...
*
German Society for Orthopterology
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
Orthopterological Journals
*
Journal of Orthoptera Research
See also
*
LUBILOSA
LUBILOSA was the name of a research programme that aimed at developing a biological alternative to the chemical control of locusts. This name is an acronym of the French title of the programme: Lutte Biologique contre les Locustes et les Sauteri ...
References
External links
Australian Plague Locust CommissionThe Orthopterists' SocietyAcridAfrica, les acridiens d'Afrique de l'Ouest
Subfields of entomology
Orthoptera
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