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Suborder Ensifera - Long-horned Orthoptera

Jerusalem Cricket - Stenopelmatus Mole Cricket - Scapteriscus borellii - male Cricket? - Phyllopalpus pulchellus - female Beetle? - Neocurtilla hexadactyla - female Narrow-winged Tree Cricket Gathering_2008 - Oecanthus niveus - male Spider Cricket 18 day old Cricket - Acheta domesticus - male Stuck at Ensifera - Oecanthus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids)
Suborder Ensifera (Long-horned Orthoptera)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Grylloptera, Locustoidea
Classification follows Orthoptera Species File; see Taxonomy Proposals topic here.
Explanation of Names
Ander (1939) first divided the Orthoptera into suborders Caelifera and Ensifera (OSF).
Ensifera is Latin for sword-bearing, and refers to the sword-like ovipositor typical of this group.
Numbers
About 10 families, 1,200 species in North America. Worldwide, more than 15,000 species (1).
Identification
A diverse group, including the familiar katydids and crickets, plus lesser-known groups. Characteristics:
hind femora usually only somewhat enlarged (compare large femora of Caelifera)
antennae thread-like, with more than 30 segments (fewer than 30 in Caelifera)
ovipositor long, sword-like (sometimes needle-like), internally has 6 valves--4 in Caelifera (Tree of Life)
tarsi with 3-4 segments
in "singing" families, forewings are modified for stridulation, having a toothed vein (file) and scraper, plus membranous areas that resonate and amplify the sounds
tympanum (hearing organ) on the front tibia in those groups that sing

Some examples of ovipositors:


Images showing the stridulatory apparatus and tympanum in a member of the Tettigoniidae, Microcentrum retinerve:
Food
Many are herbivores; some are carnivores.
Life Cycle
Typically nocturnal. In many groups, individuals live for more than one year.
See Also
Caelifera - Grasshoppers
Print References
Bland, pp. 90-91 (1)
Castner, p. 66 (2)
Ander. 1939. Opuscula Entomologica, Lund. 2(Suppl.): 306 pp., division of order Orthoptera into two suborders (quoted by OSF)
Internet References
classification plus literature citations, synonyms, included taxa (Orthoptera Species File)
Works Cited
1.How to Know the Insects
By Roger G. Bland, H.E. Jaques
2.Photographic Atlas of Entomology and Guide To Insect Identification
By James L. Castner