Grasshoppers And Crickets (Orthoptera)

This group gathers Insects subcategory members belonging to the order Orthoptera, plant-feeding insects best known for producing sound, most species by rubbing specialized body parts together, a behavior called stridulation, and for the powerful, enlarged hind legs most members use to jump. It spans the grasshoppers, generally day-active and often relying on camouflage or, in swarming locust phases, sheer numbers to survive, the true crickets and the katydids, mostly nocturnal and often better camouflaged as leaves or bark than grasshoppers, and the weta, a group of unusually large, flightless New Zealand crickets that evolved to fill ecological niches occupied by small mammals elsewhere. Several species, particularly the desert locust, are capable of forming enormous migratory swarms that can devastate crops across an entire region.