Ensifera

Characteristics shared by the two orthopteran suborders, Caelifera and Ensifera, are the mouthparts adapted for biting and chewing, the modified prothorax, the hind legs modified for jumping, the wing shape and venation, and the sound-producing stridulatory organs.

Ensiferans are distinguished from Caeliferans by their elongated, threadlike antennae, which are often longer than the length of their bodies and have over 30 segments (except in the subterranean Cooloolidae family). For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as "long-horned orthopterans". In the families in which the males sing, the fore wings have modifications that include toothed veins and scrapers for making the noise, and the surrounding membranous areas amplify the sound. In these groups, the sound-detecting tympanal organs are located on the tibiae of the front legs. The tarsi have three segments and the ovipositor is blade-like or needle-like. The male attaches the spermatophore externally to the female's gonopore. The spermatophore is often surrounded by a proteinaceous spermatophylax, the function of which is to provide a nutritional nuptial gift to the female.{{cite web |url=http://tolweb.org/Ensifera/13315 |title=Ensifera: Crickets, katydids and weta |author1=Gwynne, Darryl T. |author2=DeSutter |author3=Laure |year=1996 |publisher=TOLweb |access-date=8 May 2015}}{{cite journal | author1 = Vahed | author2 = K. | year = 1998 | title = The function of nuptial feeding in insects: review of empirical studies | journal = Biological Reviews | volume = 73 | pages = 43–78 | doi = 10.1111/j.1469-185X.1997.tb00025.x | s2cid = 86644963 | url = http://www.famu.org/mayfly/pubs/zor/zorpub_vahedk1998p45.pdf | access-date = 2015-05-08 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120311042845/http://www.famu.org/mayfly/pubs/zor/zorpub_vahedk1998p45.pdf | archive-date = 2012-03-11 | url-status = dead }}

File:Mole cricket02.jpg, showing the front legs specialised for digging]]

File:Ceuthophiluscricket.jpg, showing the long hind legs and antennae]]

File:CSIRO ScienceImage 10713 Cooloola Monster.jpg, a subterranean family from Queensland, Australia]]

File:Пальцепалый кузнечик.jpg from South India]]

The Orthoptera Species File database lists the following superfamilies and families.{{cite web |url= http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1121518 |title=Suborder Ensifera |work=Orthoptera Species File |access-date=9 May 2015}}

• Infraorder †Elcanidea
• Superfamily †Elcanoidea
• Family †Elcanidae (Late Triassic - Paleocene)
• Family †Permelcanidae (Early Permian - Late Triassic)
• Superfamily †Permoraphidioidea
• Family †Permoraphidiidae (Permian)
• Family †Pseudelcanidae (Early Permian)
• Family †Thueringoedischiidae (Early Permian)
• Family incertae sedis
• Genus †Acridiites {{small|Heer, 1865}}
• Infraorder Gryllidea
• Superfamily Grylloidea
• Family †Baissogryllidae
• Family Gryllidae - true crickets
• Family Mogoplistidae - scaly crickets
• Family Phalangopsidae {{small|Blanchard, 1845}}
• Family †Protogryllidae {{small|Zeuner, 1937}}
• Family Trigonidiidae {{small|Saussure, 1874}}
• Superfamily Gryllotalpoidea {{small|Leach, 1815}}[http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1128272 Orthoptera Species File (Version 5.0/5.0)]
• Family Gryllotalpidae {{small|Leach, 1815}} – mole crickets
• Family Myrmecophilidae {{small|Saussure, 1874}} - ant crickets
• Infraorder †Oedischiidea
• Superfamily †Oedischioidea {{small|Handlirsch, 1906}}
• Family †Anelcanidae {{small|Carpenter, 1986}}
• Family †Bintoniellidae {{small|Handlirsch, 1939}}
• Family †Mesoedischiidae {{small|Gorochov, 1987}}
• Family †Oedischiidae {{small|Handlirsch, 1906}}
• Family †Proparagryllacrididae {{small|Riek, 1956}}
• Family †Pruvostitidae {{small|Zalessky, 1929}}
• Family incertae sedis
• Genus †Crinoedischia {{small|Béthoux & Beckemeyer, 2007}}
• Genus †Loxoedischia {{small|Beckemeyer, 2011}}
• Superfamily †Triassomantoidea {{small|Tillyard, 1922}}
• Family †Adumbratomorphidae {{small|Gorochov, 1987}}
• Family †Triassomantidae {{small|Tillyard, 1922}}
• Superfamily †Xenopteroidea {{small|Riek, 1955}}
• Family †Xenopteridae {{small|Riek, 1955}}
• Superfamily incertae sedis
• family †Permotettigoniidae {{small|Nel & Garrouste, 2016}}
• Family incertae sedis
• Genus †Permophyllum {{small|Prokop, et al, 2015}}
• Infraorder Tettigoniidea
• Superfamily Hagloidea - grigs
• Family †Eospilopteronidae {{small|Cockerell, 1916}}
• Family †Haglidae {{small|Handlirsch, 1906}}
• Family †Hagloedischiidae {{small|Gorochov, 1986}}
• Family †Prezottophlebiidae {{small|Martins-Neto, 2007}}
• Family Prophalangopsidae {{small|Kirby, 1906}}
• Family †Tuphellidae {{small|Gorochov, 1988}}
• Superfamily †Phasmomimoidea {{small|Sharov, 1968}}
• Family †Phasmomimidae {{small|Sharov, 1968}}
• Superfamily Rhaphidophoroidea {{small|Walker, 1869}}
• Family Rhaphidophoridae {{small|Walker, 1869}} - camel crickets, cave crickets, cave weta
• Superfamily Schizodactyloidea {{small|Blanchard, 1845}}
• Family Schizodactylidae {{small|Blanchard, 1845}} - dune or splay-footed crickets
• Superfamily Stenopelmatoidea {{small|Burmeister, 1838}}
• Family Anostostomatidae {{small|Saussure, 1859}} - weta (except cave weta), king crickets
• Family Cooloolidae {{small|Rentz, 1980}} - Cooloola monsters
• Family Gryllacrididae {{small|Blanchard, 1845}} - leaf-rolling crickets
• Family Stenopelmatidae {{small|Burmeister, 1838}} - Jerusalem crickets
• Superfamily Tettigonioidea {{small|Krauss, 1902}}
• Family †Haglotettigoniidae {{small|Gorochov, 1988}}
• Family Tettigoniidae Krauss, 1902 - bush crickets, katydids, koringkrieks
• Superfamily Incertae sedis
• Family incertae sedis
• Genus †Tettoraptor {{small|Gorochov, 2012}}
• Infraorder incertae sedis
• Superfamily †Gryllavoidea {{small|Gorochov, 1986}}
• Family †Gryllavidae {{small|Gorochov, 1986}}
• Superfamily Incertae sedis
• Family †Palaeorehniidae (syn "Zeuneropterinae"){{Cite journal |last1=Archibald |first1=S. B. |last2=Gu |first2=J.-J. |last3=Mathewes |first3=R. W. |title=The Palaeorehniidae (Orthoptera, Ensifera, "Zeuneropterinae"), and new taxa from the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands, western North America |year=2022 |journal=Zootaxa |volume=5100 |issue=4 |pages=559–572 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.5100.4.6 |pmid=35391059 }}
• Family †Vitimiidae

File:Pycnophlebia speciosa.JPG: Jurassic fossil Pycnophlebia speciosa]]

The phylogenetic relationships of the Ensifera, summarized by Darryl Gwynne in 1995 from his own work and that of earlier authors,{{efn|Gwynne cites Ander 1939, Zeuner 1939, Judd 1947, Key 1970, Ragge 1977 and Rentz 1991 as supporting the two-part scheme (Ensifera, Caelifera) in his 1995 paper.}} are shown in the following cladogram, with the Orthoptera divided into two main groups, Ensifera and Caelifera (grasshoppers). Fossil Ensifera are found from the late Carboniferous period onwards.{{cite journal |last1=Gwynne |first1=Darryl T. |title=Phylogeny of the Ensifera (Orthoptera): a hypothesis supporting multiple origins of acoustical signalling, complex spermatophores and maternal care in crickets, katydids, and weta |journal= Journal of Orthoptera Research|date=1995 |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=203–218 |doi=10.2307/3503478 |jstor=3503478}}

The oldest known fossil in the Archaeorthoptera, the crown group of the Orthoptera, and also the oldest member of the Pterygota (winged insects), is from the Namurian (324 mya) Lower Carboniferous beds in the Upper Silesian Basin of the Czech Republic.{{cite journal |last1=Prokop |first1=Jakub |last2=Nel |first2=André |last3=Hoch |first3=Ivan |title=Discovery of the oldest known Pterygota in the Lower Carboniferous of the Upper Silesian Basin in the Czech Republic (Insecta: Archaeorthoptera) |journal=Geobios |date=2005 |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=383–387 |doi=10.1016/j.geobios.2003.11.006|bibcode=2005Geobi..38..383P }}

{{clade| style=font-size:85%;line-height:85%

|label1=Orthoptera

|1={{clade

|label1=Ensifera

|1={{clade

|label1=Elcanidea

|1={{clade

|1=†Elcanoidea

|2=†Permoraphidioidea

}}

|label2=Oedischiidea

|2={{clade

|1=†Oedischioidea

|2=†Triassomantoidea

|3=†Xenopteroidea

}}

|label3=Tettigoniidea

|3={{clade

|1=Hagloidea: (including grigs)

|2=†Phasmomimoidea

|3=Stenopelmatoidea (weta, king crickets)

|4=Tettigonioidea (bush crickets, katydids, koringkreiks)

}}

|4=Rhaphidophoroidea (cave weta, cave crickets)

|5=†Gryllavoidea

|6=Grylloidea (crickets)

|7=Schizodactyloidea (dune crickets)

}}

|label2=Caelifera

|2=(grasshoppers, groundhoppers, pygmy mole crickets)

}}

}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|28em}}

• [http://www.orthoptera.org/ The Orthopterists' Society]

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Category:Insect suborders

Category:Cisuralian first appearances

Category:Extant Permian first appearances