Orthoptera

Orthoptera is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grasshoppers, locusts, and close relatives; and Ensifera – crickets and close relatives.

Orthoptera

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
Also called
grasshopperPBDB
Sits inside
PolyneopteraPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

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 10 of 1796 occurrencesPermian — about 127 of 1796 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 3 of 1796 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 174 of 1796 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 71 of 1796 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 313 of 1796 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 50 of 1796 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 158 of 1796 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 335 of 1796 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 88 of 1796 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 25 of 1796 occurrencesEocene — about 263 of 1796 occurrencesOligocene — about 36 of 1796 occurrencesMiocene — about 112 of 1796 occurrencesPliocene — about 8 of 1796 occurrencesPleistocene — about 14 of 1796 occurrences325–314 Mya — about 3 occurrences314–303 Mya — about 1 occurrence303–293 Mya — about 16 occurrences293–282 Mya — about 32 occurrences282–271 Mya — about 46 occurrences271–260 Mya — about 28 occurrences260–249 Mya — about 14 occurrences249–238 Mya — about 124 occurrences238–228 Mya — about 75 occurrences228–217 Mya — about 8 occurrences217–206 Mya — about 8 occurrences206–195 Mya — about 80 occurrences195–184 Mya — about 15 occurrences184–173 Mya — about 249 occurrences173–163 Mya — about 42 occurrences163–152 Mya — about 81 occurrences152–141 Mya — about 95 occurrences141–130 Mya — about 27 occurrences130–119 Mya — about 90 occurrences119–108 Mya — about 201 occurrences108–98 Mya — about 45 occurrences98–87 Mya — about 49 occurrences87–76 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences76–65 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences65–54 Mya — about 31 occurrences54–43 Mya — about 157 occurrences43–33 Mya — about 101 occurrences33–22 Mya — about 37 occurrences22–11 Mya — about 103 occurrences11–0 Mya — about 37 occurrences316.9 Mya11.7 ka325 Mya0 Mya

1,796 occurrences of Orthoptera 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

1,796 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

164 formations

Crato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WCrato — 7.12°S, 39.76°WMadygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EMadygen — 40.00°N, 70.20°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°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°WYixian — 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°EKoshelevka — 57.03°N, 57.72°EKoshelevka — 57.77°N, 57.84°EZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°EFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WLilstock — 52.06°N, 2.14°WLilstock — 51.99°N, 2.21°WLilstock — 51.19°N, 3.38°WWellington — 36.51°N, 97.32°WWellington — 38.64°N, 97.21°WWellington — 36.34°N, 97.29°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°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°EIva-Gora Beds — 65.55°N, 43.67°ECheremkhovskaya — 54.17°N, 100.31°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EDurlston — 50.60°N, 1.95°WDurlston — 50.60°N, 2.01°WMenat — 46.10°N, 2.90°ESalagou — 43.65°N, 3.30°ESalagou — 43.66°N, 3.37°ESalagou — 43.63°N, 3.20°ELulworth — 50.65°N, 2.37°WLulworth — 50.60°N, 1.95°WLulworth — 51.08°N, 1.98°W

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The named rock units Orthoptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 140 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 466 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orthoptera and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

7,560 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 593 sites for Orthoptera, 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

418 references

Each of the 1,796 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. 406 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 content1

Picture of Orthoptera

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Orthoptera was found in Sketchfab.

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 itPolyneoptera through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Olivier 1789