"Orthopteroid" Family Characters

ORDER BLATTODEA (cockroaches) Diagnostic characters: flattened, oval; cursorial; wings folded flat over abdomen, forewing somewhat "leathery;" head oriented ventrally, covered by enlarged disk shaped pronotum.

Blattellidae: Parcoblatta pennsylvanica male; P. pennsylvanica male genitalia, P. pennsylvanica, male fore femur; P. pennsylvanica female ovipositor. The wood roach is one of the few native roaches in Minnesota, they are often found under bark of dead trees, especially oak, and in leaf litter in the wooded areas of the state.

Supella longipalpa, the brown-banded cockroach, male and female, in an important invasive species. They once infested Hodson Hall, but have been controlled with regular applications of pesticide (insect growth regulator).

Blattella germanica, male, the German cockroach, another noxious home invader that has an offensive odor when occurring in large infestations.

Blattidae: Periplaneta americana, adult; P. americana, male; P. americana, female. This is the American cockroach, another species found in homes. It also occurs on campus, in the St. Paul Student Center.

Blatta orientalis, female. The Oriental cockroach is a widespread domestic species.

FYI Cryptocercidae: Cryptocercus punctulatus, adult. The brown-hooded cockroach is found in the mountains of the eastern US; other species occur in the Pacific Northwest and in China. They are wingless and live communally in rotting logs, especially oak, and are able to injest wood with the aid of symbiotic flagellates.

FYI Blaberidae: Two Giant Cockroaches from Costa Rica, Archimandrita tesselata (tentative identification) and Blaberus giganteus. The green banana cockroach Panchlora nivea; see also photo of a live specimen.

FYI Other exotic roaches from Brazil, Brazil, Kenya, and Malaysia.

ORDER ORTHOPTERA

Tettigoniidae: Diagnostic characters: Long slender antennae; wings folded vertically over body; ovipositor well-developed and vertically flattened (often blade or sickle-shaped). Male stridulatory stucture of modified forewing base; base of male fore tibia showing tympanum. Female unmodified forewing base; base of female fore tibia.

FYI Copiphorinae: Diagnostic characters: long, slender, cone headed, long slender ovipositors. Female cone-headed grasshopper, Neoconocephalus ensiger, showing very long ovipositor and the conical, elongate vertex of the head. These slow moving katydids are found in tall grasses and weeds. The mandibles are strong and can give a strong bite. They live in high grass and weeds, are rather sluggish, and sing only at night.

FYI Phaneropterinae: Diagnostic characters: no spine on the prosternum; hind wing longer than fore wing. Female bush katydid, Scudderia furcata, showing shortened forewing in relation to the hind wing, and the curved ovipositor. These usually occur along marshes and in wet brushy or weedy fields. They are usually green in color, but sometimes pink forms occurin the same species. Singing occurs in evening and night.

FYI Pseudophyllinae: Diagnostic characters: distinctive oval, convex forewings; prosternal spine. The "True Katydid," Pterophylla camellifolia. True katydids are more arboreal than most tettigoniids. This is the species that sings "katy did, katy didn't" on warm, late summer evenings.

FYI Conocephalinae: Diagnostic characters: small, slender, greenish. Orchelimum gladiator, a meadow grasshopper. These are small, slender, long-horned grasshoppers commonly encountered along streams, ponds, or in wet grassy areas. Even though the family name implies that these have a cone head, the anterior vertex is not cone-like and does not extend beyond the basal antennal segment.

FYI Decticinae: Diagnostic characters: cricket-like-brown, blackish, short-winged, with pronotum extending back to abdomen. Male and female of the Mormon Cricket, Anabrus simplex. The male forewings are reduced to the stridulatory structure only. Most species are Western and include the famous Mormon Cricket, a serious pest of field crops.

FYI Examples of exotic katydids showing remarkable mimicry: leaf mimics from Cameroon, Brazil, New Guinea; wasp mimic from Costa Rica; lichen mimic from Costa Rica; twig mimic from French Guiana; a very large species from Ecuador with a thorned pronotum.

Gryllotalpidae: Diagnostic characters: Forelegs modified for digging; brownish, very pubescent; distinctive body shape. A large mole cricket from Russia and detail of the fossorial foreleg of Neocurtilla hexadactyla, the Northern Mole Cricket. These burrowing crickets occur in moist sandy or light soil, sometimes 15-20 cm below surface, usually near ponds and streams. Some species are pests on garden crops by uprooting the young plants and eating off the roots and basal parts. The males sing from subterranean chambers that amplify the sound; have tympana on front tibia.

Gryllacrididae: long antennae; elongate ovipositor; wingless, brown or gray, lack tympanum.

FYI Gryllacridinae: The single species of leaf rolling cricket in the US, Camptonotus caroliniensis, hides during the day in a rolled-up leaf sealed with silk spun frum its mouth. At night they feed on aphids.

FYI Rhaphidophorinae: Diagnostic characters: hump-backed; very long antennae. A cave cricket, Tachycines asynamorus from North Carolina. This is a large group of crickets with more than 100 species in the genus Ceuthophilus alone. Cave or camel crickets are found in caves, hollow logs and trees, and under rocks - where ever it is dark and moist. They are nocturnal.

FYI Stenopelmatinae: The Jerusalem cricket, Stenopelmus fuscus. These Western crickets are interesting because of their morphology. They are usually large with large, robust head and abdomen and are found under stones or in soil.

Gryllidae: Diagnostic characters: long antennae; front wings bent down sharply at sides; elongate, but needle-like rather than flattened, ovipositor.

FYI Oecanthinae: Slender, pale green or whitish. A snowy tree cricket, Oecanthus sp, male and female; tip of ovipositor. Tree crickets are excellent singers. The song of one species, O. fultoni, can be used to approximate the temperature by adding 40 to the number of chirps occurring in 15 seconds. Females have serrate ovipositors and can damage twigs and stems, of raspberry canes, for example, during egg laying.

FYI Eneopterinae: A bush cricket, Orocharis saltator, male and female. Brownish, grayish, or blackish with red head and pronotum.

FYI Trigonidiinae: Also called bush crickets; a small species from Venezuela.

FYI Nemobiinae: Ground crickets are common in pastures, fields, and along roadsides.

FYI Gryllinae: Gryllus veletus, male and female. House and field crickets. Brown to black; very common. Gryllus pennsylvannicus, northern field cricket; Acheta domesticus, house cricket.

Acrididae: Diagnostic characters: short antennae; tympanum on side of abdomen; ovipositor very short; typical grasshopper shape.

FYI Romaleinae: Diagnostic characters: large, robust, short wings. A large lubber grasshopper from Florida, Romalea microptera, lateral and dorsal view showing the red hind wings.

FYI Cyrtacanthacridinae: Diagnostic characters: median spine or tubercle on prosternum; face vertical or nearly so in most species; hind wing often colorful. The genus Melanoplus has some very many species, including the Differential Grasshopper, Melanoplus differentialis, Two-stripped grasshopper, M. bivittatus, Red-legged Grasshopper, M. femurrubrum, Migratory Grasshopper, M. sanguinipes, American Locust, Schistocerca americana. This species in particular used to be very injurious to crops. It would increases to tremendous numbers under favorable conditions and migrate great distances. In the 1870s great hoards would form that would darken the sky and cause plagues of locust on the Great Plains.

FYI Acridinae: Slant-faced grasshoppers. Often found near marshes and wet areas. Not as abundant as spur-throated, not damaging to crops.

FYI Oedopodinae: Diagnostic characters: hind wingbrightly colored. They usually occur in open areas and blend in with the ground; when they fly the bright hind wing is visible. They often crack wings flight and are the only group that stridulates when flying. A common Minnesota band-winged grasshopper, Dissosteira carolina.

FYI Proscopiidae: A Proscopia geniculata from Ecuador and detail of its head.

Tetrigidae: Diagnostic characters: look like a small grasshoppers, but with distinctive, prolonged pronotum projecting part-way over wings. Over winter as adults and commonly encountered in spring and early summer. Lateral and dorsal views of a pygmy grasshopper, Acrydium sp.

Tridactylidae: Diagnostic characters: small size; forelegs modified for burrowing; note the "tridactyls." Tridactylus minutus, a pygmy mole cricket. These small crickets burrow in soft soil near streams and ponds. They are very good jumpers. They have no tympanum and do not sing.