Gryllacrididae

Gryllacrididae
Hyalogryllacris sp. fabricating silk
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Orthoptera
Suborder:	Ensifera
Superfamily:	Stenopelmatoidea
Family:	Gryllacrididae Blanchard, 1845
Subfamilies
Gryllacridinae Lezininae

Gryllacrididae are a family of non-jumping insects in the suborder Ensifera occurring worldwide, known commonly as "leaf-rolling crickets" or "raspy crickets". The family historically has been broadly defined to include what are presently several other families, such as Stenopelmatidae ("Jerusalem crickets") and Rhaphidophoridae ("camel crickets"),^[1] now considered separate. As presently defined, the family contains two subfamilies, with the vast majority (over 90 genera containing over 600 species) in the subfamily Gryllacridinae.^[2] The remaining subfamily, Lezininae, contains only a single genus with 12 described species.^[3][4] They are commonly wingless and nocturnal. In the daytime, most species rest in shelters made from folded leaves sewn with silk. Some species use silk to burrow in sand, earth or wood.^[5] Raspy crickets evolved the ability to produce silk independently from other insects, but their silk has many convergent features to silkworm silk, being made of long, repetitive proteins with an extended beta-sheet structure.^[6]

These are predators of other insects and spiders.^[7]

Taxonomy

The Orthoptera Species File database lists the following subfamilies and genera:^[8]

References

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Gryllacrididae

• Lockwood, Jeffrey A. (January–February 2006). "The Nature of Violence". Orion Magazine.  Article discussing Gryllacrididae and its behavior