Grylloidea is the superfamily of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s, in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

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 – grass ...

, known as crickets. It includes the " true crickets", scaly crickets, wood crickets and other families, some only known from fossils. Grylloidea dates from the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

period and contains about 3,700 known living species in some 528 genera, as well as 43 extinct species and 27 extinct genera.

Characteristics

The features which distinguish crickets in the superfamily Grylloidea from other Ensiferans are long, thread-like antennae, three tarsal segments, slender tactile cerci at the tip of the abdomen and bulbous sensory bristles on the cerci. They are the only insects to share this combination of characteristics. The term cricket is popularly used for any cricket-like insect in the order Ensifera, being applied to the

ant cricket The Myrmecophilidae or ant-loving crickets are rarely encountered relatives of mole crickets, and are obligate inquilines within ant nests. They are very small, wingless, and flattened, so resemble small cockroach nymphs. The few genera contain fe ...

s, bush crickets ( Tettigoniidae),

Jerusalem cricket Jerusalem crickets (or potato bugs) are a group of large, flightless insects in the genera '' Ammopelmatus'' and '' Stenopelmatus'', together comprising the tribe Stenopelmatini. The former genus is native to the western United States and par ...

s (''Stenopelmatus''), mole crickets, camel crickets and cave crickets ( Rhaphidophoridae) and wētā (

Anostostomatidae 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 South Africa and ''wētā'' in ...

), and the relatives of these. All these insects have four tarsal segments and are probably more closely related to each other than they are to the true crickets, Gryllidae. The body is cylindrical in most Grylloideans, but in some it is oval. The antennae are long and threadlike, except in the family Gryllotalpidae in which they are much shorter and brush-like. The pronotum is unkeeled and the sternal plates are flat, unadorned with flaps or spines. The tarsus has three segments and the tibia of the front leg bears the sound-detecting tympanal organs. The forewing of males bears the

stridulatory organ Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mech ...

, with a sound being created when a file on one wing is rubbed by a scraper on the other. There are two cerci at the tip of the abdomen and there is no stylus on the subgenital plate.

Classification

The following families are included in this superfamily. *

Baissogryllidae Baissogryllidae is an extinct family of crickets in 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 a ...

Gorochov, 1985 † * Gryllidae Laicharting, 1781 – true crickets * Mogoplistidae Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1873 – scaly crickets *

Phalangopsidae The Phalangopsidae are a recently reconstituted family of crickets (Orthoptera: Ensifera), based on the type genus ''Phalangopsis'' Serville, 1831 from South America. Priority for family-group names based on this genus dates from Blanchard's " ...

Blanchard, 1845 – 'spider crickets' and relatives - mostly southern hemisphere *†

Protogryllidae Protogryllidae is an extinct family of crickets in 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 an ...

Zeuner, 1937 (West-central Asia) * Trigonidiidae Saussure, 1874 (World-wide) ** subfamily Nemobiinae Saussure, 1877 (includes wood crickets) ** subfamily Trigonidiinae Saussure, 1874 ('sword-tail crickets', trigs) * unplaced subfamily

Pteroplistinae The Pteroplistinae comprise a subfamily of crickets (currently unplaced in any family), in the superfamily Grylloidea. Species are found in tropical Asia. Genera and Species * '' Asymmetriola'' Gorochov, 2010 - monotypic ''A. spinosa'' Gorocho ...

Chopard, 1936 (tropical Asia)

Excluded families

The following have now be placed as the separate superfamily

Gryllotalpoidea The Gryllotalpoidea are a superfamily of insects that includes the mole crickets and the ant crickets. The type genus is ''Gryllotalpa''. Recent (2015) molecular phylogenetic studies support the monophyly of the cricket clade (Gryllidea in the ' ...

.''Orthoptera Species File'' Gryllotalpoidea (Version 5.0/5.0: retrieved 22 December 2018)
/ref> * Gryllotalpidae Leach, 1815 – mole crickets * Myrmecophilidae Saussure, 1874 - ant crickets.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q609392 Insect superfamilies Ensifera Carnian first appearances Extant Late Triassic first appearances