Author

Stewart B. Peck Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

• Animals
  • Terrestrial & Marine Vertebrates
  • Marine Invertebrates
  • Terrestrial Invertebrates
• Plants
  • Vascular Plants
  • Bryophytes
  • Algae
• Fungi
  • True Fungi
  • Other 'fungi'
• Ecological Groups
  • Introduced Species
  • Symbiotic organisms
  • Pathogens and Parasites
  • Plankton

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Latest species added:

• Liposcelis entomophila (Enderlein, 1907)
• Pachytroctes achrosta Thornton & Woo, 1973
• Tapinella francesca Thornton & Woo, 1973

The Order Orthoptera contains a varied assemblage of insects, which are usually herbivores, but some may be predators or scavengers.

Considering the richness of the mainland Ecuador fauna, the island fauna are highly impoverished.
Colonization may have been by flight (and wind) for strong fliers such as Schistocerca, Sphingonotus, and Neoconocephalus.
Rafting is more likely for weak fliers and flightless groups, especially in the Gryllidae (Nemobiinae and Mogoplistinae).
Seventy-four percent of the endemic species are flightless. Loss of flight ability on the Galapagos has occurred in Halmenus (maybe it is a descendent from a Schistocerca locust), Closteridea, Gryllus, and Conocephalus.

Of special note is the evolution of the two species of eyeless subterranean Anurogryllus crickets. No eyed ancestor of these is known in the islands. Evolution of endemics in the Orthoptera has been relatively frequent when compared to most other insect groups.

Author: Stewart B. Peck.

Other Contributors: Fabián Bersosa, Ruth Boada, Charlotte Causton, Germania Estévez, Lilian Guzmán, Henri W. Herrera, María T. Lasso, Maria Piedad Lincango, Alejandro Mieles, E. Mockford, Renato Oquendo, Lázaro Roque-Álbelo.