Stenopelmatidae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of large, mostly flightless

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 – gras ...

ns that includes the Jerusalem crickets. Two genera: '' Ammopelmatus'' and the type genus '' Stenopelmatus'' are found in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

. '' Oryctopus'' and '' Sia'' are

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

genera, and previously placed in their own subfamilies (see below), but with the addition of new genera, current placement is as five tribes in the single subfamily Stenopelmatinae.

Classification

The classification and constituency of Stenopelmatidae is an ongoing source of controversy, with different authorities proposing radically different arrangements. Until recently, the majority of researchers appeared to accept a major

lineage as the subfamily Stenopelmatinae, with smaller

lineages and fossil groups also treated as subfamilies.Vandergast, A.G., Weissman, D.B., Wood, D.A., Rentz, D.C., Bazelet, C.S., and Ueshima, N. (2017) Tackling an intractable problem: Can greater taxon sampling help resolve relationships within the Stenopelmatoidea (Orthoptera: Ensifera)? ''Zootaxa'' 4291, no. 1, p. 1. DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.4291.1.1 At least one other authority, working exclusively with morphological characters, has instead repeatedly proposed that Stenopelmatidae contains the family

Gryllacrididae Gryllacrididae are a family of non-jumping insects in the suborder Ensifera occurring worldwide, known commonly as leaf-rolling crickets or raspy crickets. The family historically has been broadly defined to include what are presently several oth ...

as a subfamily, and also the entire superfamily

Schizodactyloidea 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 inexspect ...

, similarly reduced to the rank of subfamily (e.g.Gorochov, A.V. (2020) The families Stenopelmatidae and Anostostomatidae (Orthoptera). 1. Higher classification, new and little known taxa. ''Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie'' 99: 905–961 (In Russian).), a result explicitly rejected by other researchers. In this morphological classification, the entire historical constituency of Stenopelmatidae is reduced to a single subfamily, with the former subfamilies all reduced to tribal rank. As such, the majority of classifications have until recently recognized the following groups (with the genus ''

Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius ( 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized as a legitimate ...

'' only removed from inclusion within the genus '' Sia'' in 2021): * monotypic subfamily Oryctopinae Kevan, 1986 ** Tribe Oryctopini Kevan, 1986 *** Genus '' Oryctopus'' Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 * obsolete subfamily Siinae Gorochov, 1988 ** Genus ''

'' Stal, 1876 ** Genus '' Sia'' Giebel, 1861 * previously as subfamily Stenopelmatinae Burmeister, 1838 and now tribe Stenopelmatini ** Genus '' Ammopelmatus'' Tinkham, 1965 ** Genus '' Stenopelmatus'' Burmeister, 1838 Note: * the genera '' Electrosia'' Gorochov, 2010 and '' Macrelcana'' Karny, 1932 are now placed in the family Elcanidae. * genus '' Zeuneroptera'' Sharov, 1962 is now placed in the family Palaeorehniidae.

References

External links

* {{Orthoptera, 1 Orthoptera families Stenopelmatoidea