Insect Order Orthoptera - grasshoppers and crickets
Orthoptera are hemimetabolous (having nymphs that look like small adults and no pupa) medium or large insects that are usually winged as adults but may be apterous (wingless). They have a large pronotum (the plate covering the first thoracic segment or prothorax) and enlarged (often greatly so) hind femur which are used for jumping. In the winged forms the the fore wings are toughened and strengthened to form tegmina, the hind wings are membraneous and folded fan like. They normally have large well developed compound eyes as well as three ocelli, their cerci are normally short and one segmented and their mouthparts are designed for biting. Females usually have well developed ovipositor, this is more obvious in the Crickets and Bush-crickets. Their antennae are long and filiform in the Ensifera consisting of a large numbers segments, but short consisting of less than 30 segments in the Caelifera. It is considered by most scientist that the Orthoptera arose in the late Upper Carboniferous more than 300 million years ago.