 |
|
| Home | Who We Are | List of Orders | References | Contact Us |
Insect Identification Key Based on your answers to the questions, you have identified your insect as being in the order Orthoptera! Members of this order include:
grasshoppers, plague locusts, katydids, crickets, pygmy grasshoppers. Etymology:
Orthoptera comes from the Greek ortho, which means straight, and ptera, which means wings. This refers to the narrow front wings, which lie side by side and run straight down the body. General characteristics: Number of species worldwide:
more than 20,000 Classification:
For a list of all of the orders in this key, click here: List of Orders. Oops! If this doesn't appear to be the order for your insect, go back through the key and look more carefully at your insect while answering the questions again. Your perseverance will reward you! I would like to return to the start of this key. Unless noted otherwise, photographs on this website are the property of the photographers and may not be reused without written permission from the photographers. To obtain permission, request it here. Photos at the top of this website are by: Leslie Mertz, Ph.D., LMERTZ@nasw.org. Reproduction of material from any KnowYourInsects.org webpages without written permission is strictly prohibited.
Order Orthoptera: the grasshoppers, locusts, crickets and katydids
• long hind legs (in many species the hind legs are quite robust)
• two pairs of wings, the hind pair of which is hidden beneath the forewings when the insect is at rest
• front wings, which are called tegmina, are long and narrow, and have a leathery texture
• hind wings are membranous and fold like a fan
• large, shield-like pronotum that extends back to cover at least most of the thorax
• long, thin antennae
• hemimetabolous metamorphosis (egg — nymph — adult)
Click here to see examples of more Orthopterans!
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Insecta
Order Orthoptera
Home Who We Are
List of Orders
References
Contact Us