Field locusts
| Field locusts | ||||||||||||
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| Macleay , 1821 |
The field locusts , scientific name Acrididae , are a species-rich family of locusts with over 6700 species . They are common worldwide.
features
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Field locusts have the typical body shape of the short-antennae terrors (Caelifera) and cannot be distinguished from representatives of other families by a clear characteristic. They almost always have distinctive hind legs designed as jump legs. The tarsi are tripartite. Their antennae are thread-shaped, rarely widened somewhat leaf-shaped or slightly thickened at the end, they are quite short and usually do not reach further than the rear edge of the pronotum. The forewings are usually long and narrow and somewhat reinforced (called half-coverts or tegmina ), but they can also be built delicately like a membrane. Females have a very short ovipositor at the rear end with several pairs of flap-like valves, which they often use to bury the eggs in the ground. On each side of the first abdominal segment there is a mostly clearly visible tympanic membrane of the tympanic organ , with which you can hear sound. The males of many species attract females via mating songs by means of stridulation , whereby the structures used for this are different between the subfamilies.
There are very few characteristics characteristic of the family ( autapomorphies ), they are essentially limited to the internal shape of the male mating organs (the aedeagus and accompanying structures) and are invisible in living animals. At the top (dorsal) there is a sclerotized clasp ("arch sclerite"), which otherwise only occurs in a different, presumably convergent form in the Pamphagodidae . During copulation , the field locusts transmit a spermatophore , which is formed in an enlargement of the genital canal.
For a long time, the Acrididae served as a “drawer” or “wastepaper basket” taxon, in which all field locusts that could not be accommodated in families that could be better characterized by their clear characteristics were sorted. However, in their current description, they turned out to be a monophyletic group after genetic investigations . It differs from the similar and closely related Romaleidae by the lack of a spur at the tip of the rear rails .
habitat
Most grasshoppers live on the ground or in low, herbaceous vegetation. They are particularly rich in individuals and species in grasslands , from steppes and wetlands to agricultural grassland . Here they often make up more than half of the aboveground arthropod biomass . Some species, especially those from the group of locusts , are feared agricultural pests. Although they are primarily found in grasslands, field locusts are not restricted to this habitat. Species of the subfamilies Proctolabinae and Ommatolampidinae live in the treetops in the Amazon rainforest. Some species live permanently on the leaves of floating leaf plants , they are excellent diving and have swimming legs. Deserts and high mountains also have special, specialized species.
Almost all field locusts are specialized herbivores (herbivores). After the morphology of the mouthparts specialized let grass -fressende species (Graminivore) of specialists for the most softer herbs and different kinds of mixed diet.
Phylogeny and Kinship
The field locusts form the superfamily Acridoidea with a number of smaller families. Closely related and possible sister groups are probably the American Romaleidae, in which even paraphyly was previously suspected, the South American Ommexechidae and Tristiridae . The Pamphagidae , whose position was controversial for a long time, are not very closely related within the Acridoidea.
The family is now divided into 26 subfamilies (as of 2019).
- Acridinae 141 genera, 483 species. spread worldwide.
- Calliptaminae 12 genera, 92 species. Africa, Europe, West and Central Asia, India.
- Catantopinae 341 genera, 1077 species. Africa, Mediterranean region, Asia, Australia. often seen as a family in the past.
- Copiocerinae 21 genera, 90 species. South and Central America, Caribbean.
- Coptacrinae 20 genera, 116 species. Afrotropis , South Asia.
- Cyrtacanthacridinae 36 genera, 162 species. spread worldwide.
- Egnatiinae 9 genera, 36 species. Mediterranean and North Africa, Central Asia.
- Eremogryllinae 2 genera, 5 species. North West Africa.
- Euryphyminae 23 genera, 87 species. South Africa.
- Eyprepocnemidinae 26 genera, 159 species. Africa, South and Southeast Asia.
- Gomphocerinae (grasshopper). 192 genera, 1274 species. spread worldwide. probably paraphyletic to the Oedipodinae.
- Habrocneminae 2 genera, 3 species. South East Asia.
- Hemiacridinae 38 genera, 122 species. Africa, South and Southeast Asia.
- Leptysminae 21 genera, 79 species. North and South America.
- Marelliinae 1 genera, 1 species ( Marellia remipes Uvarov, 1929). South America
- Melanoplinae 145 genera, 1173 species. Europe, Asia, North and South America.
- Oedipodinae (Wasteland Terrors) 137 genera, 792 species. spread worldwide. probably paraphyletic to the Gomphocerinae.
- Ommatolampidinae 114 genera, 292 species. South and Central America, Caribbean. probably paraphyletic .
- Oxyinae 37 genera, 307 species. Afrotropic islands, Asia, Australia.
- Pauliniinae 1 genera, 1 species ( Paulinia acuminata (De Geer, 1773)). South and Central America.
- Pezotettiginae 2 genera, 10 species. Europe and North West Africa.
- Proctolabinae 29 genera, 215 species. South and Central America
- Rhytidochrotinae 20 genera, 47 species. South America.
- Spathosterninae 3 genera, 12 species. Afrotropic islands, South Asia, Australia.
- Teratodinae 8 genera, 24 species. Southwest Asia, India, East Africa.
- Tropidopolinae 11 genera, 34 species. Africa, South Asia.
Since the earliest branching, primitive subfamilies and closest related families all live in South America, it is likely that the family is of South American origin. The earliest branched off and thus the most primeval group still alive is a common clade from the monotypical (containing only one species) subfamilies Marelliinae and Pauliniinae. Using the molecular clock method , the South American and the oldest African subfamilies split up about 59 million years ago, in the Paleocene . Presumably they colonized the rest of the Old World from Africa. According to the data, there must have been several migrations back and forth across the Atlantic in later times.
Individual evidence
- ↑ David C. Eades (2000): Evolutionary Relationships of Phallic Structures of Acridomorpha (Orthoptera). Journal of Orthoptera Research 9: 181-210. JSTOR 3503648
- ↑ a b c Hojun Song, Ricardo Mariño-Pérez, Derek A. Woller, Maria Marta Cigliano (2018): Evolution, Diversification, and Biogeography of Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Insect Systematics and Diversity 2 (4): 1-25 doi: 10.1093 / isd / ixy008
- ↑ CHF Rowell: The Grasshoppers (Caelifera) of Costa Rica and Panama. published by The Orthopterists' Society, 2013. 611 pages.
- ↑ Beverly McClenaghan, Joel F. Gibson, Shadi Shokralla, Mehrdad Hajibabaei (2015): Discrimination of grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) diet and niche overlap using next ‐ generation sequencing of gut contents. Ecology and Evolution 5 (15): 3046-3055. doi: 10.1002 / ece3.1585
- ↑ a b superfamily Acridoidea MacLeay, 1821 . Orthoptera Species File online (Version 5.0 / 5.0).
- ↑ Hojun Song, Christiane Amédégnato, Maria Marta Cigliano, Laure Desutter-Grandcolas, Sam W. Heads, Yuan Huang, Daniel Otte, Michael F. Whiting (2015): 300 million years of diversification: elucidating the patterns of orthopteran evolution based on comprehensive taxon and gene sampling. Cladistics 31: 621-651. doi: 10.1111 / cla.12116