Ensifera
| Ensifera Temporal range: Permian - Recent 275–0 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Orthoptera |
| Suborder: | Ensifera |
| Superfamilies and families | |
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Ensifera is a suborder of the order Orthoptera, including insects in the families Gryllidae (true crickets), Prophalangopsidae (grigs), Stenopelmatidae (Jerusalem crickets, king crickets, tree and giant wetas), Gryllacrididae (leaf-rolling and raspy crickets), Cooloolidae (cooloola monsters), Rhaphidophoridae (cave and camel crickets), Schizodactylidae (dune or splay-footed crickets) and Tettigoniidae (bush crickets or katydids). The Tettigoniidae are sometimes known as the long-horned grasshoppers to distinguish them from the other suborder of Orthoptera, the Caelifera or short-horned grasshoppers. 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.
"Ensifer" means "sword bearer" in Latin, and refers to the typically elongated and blade-like ovipositor of the females.
Characteristics shared by the two orthopteran orders, 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 body and have over thirty segments (except in the subterranean Cooloolidae family). In the families in which the males sing, the forewings have modifications which 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.
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