Ensifera

Ensifera is a suborder of insects that includes the various types of crickets and their allies, including true crickets, camel crickets, bush crickets or katydids, grigs, wētā, and Cooloola monsters. This and the suborder Caelifera make up the order Orthoptera. Ensifera is believed to be a more ancient group than Caelifera, with its origins in the Carboniferous period, the split having occurred at the end of the Permian period. Unlike the Caelifera, the Ensifera contain numerous members that are partially carnivorous, feeding on other insects, as well as plants.
Ensifer is Latin for "sword bearer", and refers to the typically elongated and blade-like ovipositor of the females.

Characteristics

Characteristics shared by the two orthopteran suborders, Caelifera and Ensifera, are the mouthparts adapted for biting and chewing, the modified prothorax, the hind legs modified for jumping, the wing shape and venation, and the sound-producing stridulatory organs.
Ensiferans are distinguished from Caeliferans by their elongated, threadlike antennae, which are often longer than the length of their bodies and have over 30 segments. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as "long-horned orthopterans". In the families in which the males sing, the fore wings have modifications that include toothed veins and scrapers for making the noise, and the surrounding membranous areas amplify the sound. In these groups, the sound-detecting tympanal organs are located on the tibiae of the front legs. The tarsi have three segments and the ovipositor is blade-like or needle-like. The male attaches the spermatophore externally to the female's gonopore. The spermatophore is often surrounded by a proteinaceous spermatophylax, the function of which is to provide a nutritional nuptial gift to the female.

Taxonomy

The Orthoptera Species File database lists the following superfamilies and families.

Infraorder †Elcanidea
*Superfamily †Elcanoidea
**Family †Elcanidae
**Family †Permelcanidae
*Superfamily †Permoraphidioidea
**Family †Permoraphidiidae
**Family †Pseudelcanidae
**Family †Thueringoedischiidae
**Family incertae sedis
***Genus †Acridiites
Infraorder Gryllidea
*Superfamily Grylloidea
**Family †Baissogryllidae
**Family Gryllidae - true crickets
**Family Mogoplistidae - scaly crickets
**Family Phalangopsidae
**Family †Protogryllidae
**Family Trigonidiidae
*Superfamily Gryllotalpoidea
**Family Gryllotalpidae – mole crickets
**Family Myrmecophilidae - ant crickets
Infraorder †Oedischiidea
*Superfamily †Oedischioidea
**Family †Anelcanidae
**Family †Bintoniellidae
**Family †Mesoedischiidae
**Family †Oedischiidae
**Family †Proparagryllacrididae
**Family †Pruvostitidae
**Family incertae sedis
***Genus †Crinoedischia
***Genus †Loxoedischia
*Superfamily †Triassomantoidea
**Family †Adumbratomorphidae
**Family †Triassomantidae
*Superfamily †Xenopteroidea
**Family †Xenopteridae
*Superfamily incertae sedis
**family †Permotettigoniidae
**Family incertae sedis
***Genus †Permophyllum
Infraorder Tettigoniidea
*Superfamily Hagloidea - grigs
**Family †Eospilopteronidae
**Family †Haglidae
**Family †Hagloedischiidae
**Family †Prezottophlebiidae
**Family Prophalangopsidae
**Family †Tuphellidae
*Superfamily †Phasmomimoidea
**Family †Phasmomimidae
*Superfamily Rhaphidophoroidea
**Family Rhaphidophoridae - camel crickets, cave crickets, cave weta
*Superfamily Schizodactyloidea
**Family Schizodactylidae - dune or splay-footed crickets
*Superfamily Stenopelmatoidea
**Family Anostostomatidae - weta, king crickets
**Family Cooloolidae - Cooloola monsters
**Family Gryllacrididae - leaf-rolling crickets
**Family Stenopelmatidae - Jerusalem crickets
*Superfamily Tettigonioidea
**Family †Haglotettigoniidae
**Family Tettigoniidae Krauss, 1902 - bush crickets, katydids, koringkrieks
*Superfamily Incertae sedis
**Family incertae sedis
***Genus †Tettoraptor
Infraorder incertae sedis
*Superfamily †Gryllavoidea
**Family †Gryllavidae
Superfamily Incertae sedis
* Family †Palaeorehniidae
*Family †Vitimiidae

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of the Ensifera, summarized by Darryl Gwynne in 1995 from his own work and that of earlier authors, are shown in the following cladogram, with the Orthoptera divided into two main groups, Ensifera and Caelifera. Fossil Ensifera are found from the late Carboniferous period onwards.
The oldest known fossil in the Archaeorthoptera, the crown group of the Orthoptera, and also the oldest member of the Pterygota, is from the Namurian Lower Carboniferous beds in the Upper Silesian Basin of the Czech Republic.