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. Unlike the Caelifera, the Ensifera contain numerous members that are partially carnivorous, feeding on other insects, as well as plants.

Ensifera

Uncredited · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
OrthopteraPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB
Motility
fast-movingPBDB
Vision
well-developedPBDB
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 316 million years on record.

The record covers at least 316.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 318.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 8 of 1336 occurrencesPermian — about 101 of 1336 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 3 of 1336 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 120 of 1336 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 57 of 1336 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 243 of 1336 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 43 of 1336 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 144 of 1336 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 260 of 1336 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 60 of 1336 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 15 of 1336 occurrencesEocene — about 199 of 1336 occurrencesOligocene — about 20 of 1336 occurrencesMiocene — about 53 of 1336 occurrencesPliocene — about 3 of 1336 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 1336 occurrences325–314 Mya — about 3 occurrences314–303 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences303–293 Mya — about 13 occurrences293–282 Mya — about 28 occurrences282–271 Mya — about 36 occurrences271–260 Mya — about 22 occurrences260–249 Mya — about 10 occurrences249–238 Mya — about 85 occurrences238–228 Mya — about 60 occurrences228–217 Mya — about 6 occurrences217–206 Mya — about 6 occurrences206–195 Mya — about 57 occurrences195–184 Mya — about 11 occurrences184–173 Mya — about 195 occurrences173–163 Mya — about 35 occurrences163–152 Mya — about 78 occurrences152–141 Mya — about 80 occurrences141–130 Mya — about 24 occurrences130–119 Mya — about 73 occurrences119–108 Mya — about 150 occurrences108–98 Mya — about 33 occurrences98–87 Mya — about 33 occurrences87–76 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences76–65 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences65–54 Mya — about 20 occurrences54–43 Mya — about 124 occurrences43–33 Mya — about 71 occurrences33–22 Mya — about 20 occurrences22–11 Mya — about 48 occurrences11–0 Mya — about 14 occurrences316.9 Mya11.7 ka325 Mya0 Mya

1,336 occurrences of Ensifera on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,336 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

136 formations

Crato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WCrato — 7.12°S, 39.76°WMadygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 39.54°N, 108.12°WGreen River — 39.40°N, 108.21°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WGreen River — 39.73°N, 107.98°WPosidonia Shale — 52.31°N, 10.62°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.75°EPosidonia Shale — 52.27°N, 10.68°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.59°EPosidonia Shale — 52.03°N, 10.29°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°ESolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°ESolnhofen — 49.00°N, 11.70°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EYixian — 41.15°N, 117.96°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.95°N, 118.89°EYixian — 41.52°N, 117.77°EYixian — 41.21°N, 119.25°EYixian — 41.26°N, 119.05°EYixian — 41.03°N, 118.92°EYixian — 40.26°N, 119.06°EYixian — 41.42°N, 118.97°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EWeald Clay — 51.14°N, 0.33°WWeald Clay — 50.83°N, 0.43°EWeald Clay — 51.10°N, 0.45°WWeald Clay — 52.72°N, 1.44°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.42°WKoshelevka — 57.03°N, 57.72°EKoshelevka — 57.77°N, 57.84°EMolteno — 31.47°S, 26.43°EMolteno — 31.47°S, 26.83°EMolteno — 31.57°S, 26.22°EMolteno — 30.68°S, 26.95°EMolteno — 31.50°S, 27.92°EMolteno — 30.50°S, 29.00°EMolteno — 30.68°S, 28.52°EMolteno — 31.53°S, 26.23°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WWellington — 36.51°N, 97.32°WWellington — 38.64°N, 97.21°WWellington — 36.34°N, 97.29°WZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°EDurlston — 50.60°N, 1.95°WDurlston — 50.60°N, 2.01°WIva-Gora Beds — 65.55°N, 43.67°ECheremkhovskaya — 54.17°N, 100.31°ESalagou — 43.65°N, 3.30°ESalagou — 43.66°N, 3.37°ESalagou — 43.63°N, 3.20°EBakhar — 45.22°N, 99.17°ELilstock — 52.06°N, 2.14°WLilstock — 51.99°N, 2.21°WFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WJiulongshan — 40.96°N, 117.61°EJiulongshan — 41.32°N, 119.24°EUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EBaitugan — 55.89°N, 53.34°E

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The named rock units Ensifera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 112 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 306 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ensifera and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Ensifera and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

7,531 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 477 sites for Ensifera, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

305 references

Each of the 1,336 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 293 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Ensifera

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOrthoptera through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Chopard 1920)