orthopter (orthopter)

An orthopterous in sect; an orthopteran or orthopteron; any member of the Orthoptera. Orthoptera (ôr-thop'te-rä), n. pl. [NL. (Latreille, 1806) (F. Orthoptères, Olivier, 1789), neut. pl. of orthopter us, straight-winged: see orthopterous.] An order of the cla Insect a proposed by Olivier in 1789 for certain straight winged insects which Linnæus had placed in Fed ere ripe racing the had restricted the order Hemipter a, placing the true bug store the order now contains insects in which metamorphosis is incomplete and wings are almost always present, of which the hinder pair are dilated, folded from the base, and of membranous texture, while the fore pair are more or le coriaceous, usually narrow and straight (but variable in this respect), and thickly veined. These insects are active and capable of feeding in all stages from birth to death. Seven families - or, as some consider, tribes or superfamilies - are now recognized. These are the Blatti dæ, or cockroaches; Mantid a, or praying-insects; Phasmidæ, or walking-sticks; Gryllidæ, or crickets; Locustidæ, or long-horned gra hoppers or katydids; and Acridide, or short-horned gra hoppers or true locusts, including the migratory species. (See locust for an explanation of the fact that the Locustidæ are not locusts.) The Orthoptera are in the main herbivorous, but the Mantidæ are carnivorous, and some of the Blattidæ are omnivorous. They are found all over the world, but most numerously in the tropics, where among them are the largest known repre sentatives of the whole insect cla . All the known species are terrestrial or arboreal, no aquatic forms having been discovered; and according to their habitual mode of progre ion the families have been grouped by West wood as Cursor i a, Raptor i a, Ambulator i a, and Salt at or i a. The Orthoptera are among the earliest forms of insect life to appear in geologic time, and Blattidæ in particular are very numerous in some geological formations. The main characters used in cla ifying the Orthoptera are derived from the modifications of the genitals, mouth-parts, and antennæ. See cuts under Blattidæ, Gryllida, Insect a, katydid, locust, and Mantis.