List of Orthoptera of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a tropical island situated close to the southern tip of India. The invertebrate fauna is as large as it is common to other regions of the world. There are about 2 million species of arthropods found in the world, and still is counting.

The following list is about Orthopterans recorded in Sri Lanka.

Orthopterans

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Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera

The Orthoptera order of insects includes the grasshoppers, crickets, cave crickets, Jerusalem crickets, katydids, wētā, lubber, Acrida, and locusts. More than 27,000 species are distributed worldwide.[1] Many insects in this order have paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, and produce sound (known as a "stridulation") by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps. The tympanum or ear is located in the front tibia in crickets, mole crickets, and katydids, and on the first abdominal segment in the grasshoppers and locusts. These organisms use vibrations to locate other individuals. There are two suborders and 235 subfamilies are in this order.

The following list provide the orthopterans currently identified in Sri Lanka. One of Sri Lanka's leading naturalist and expert on orthopterans, George Morrison Reid Henry, who was born in Sri Lanka, was appointed as Assistant in Systematic Entomology at Colombo National Museum from 1913-1946. He started much work on many micro arthropods including orthoptera as well. But the most comprehensive work confined to orthoptera was done by G. M. Henry, though no single monograph of Sri Lankan species is available. The world catalogues of Otte provide up-dated nomenclature and classification.[2][3] In 2020, a new pygmy grasshopper was discovered from Sinharaja rainforest.[4]

According to Sandrasagara, (1949 to 1954); and Chopard, (1936), 350 species of orthopterans identified from Sri Lanka.[2][5][6][7][8]

Endemic species are denoted as E.

Family: Tridactylidae - Pygmy mole crickets

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Sub family: Gomphocerinae - Slant-faced grasshoppers

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Sub family: Acridinae - Silent slant-faced grasshoppers

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Sub family: Oedipodinae - Band-winged grasshoppers

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Sub family: Cyrtacanthacridinae - Bird grasshoppers

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Sub family: Catantopinae - Spur-throated grasshoppers

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Family: Gryllacrididae - Leaf-rolling crickets

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Family: Gryllidae - Crickets

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Sub family:Gryllinae - Field crickets

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Sub family:Nemobiinae - Ground crickets

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Sub family:Myrmecophilinae - Ant crickets

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Sub family:Pentacentrinae - Anomalous crickets

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Sub family:Oecanthinae - Tree crickets

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Sub family:Itarinae

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Sub family:Eneopterinae - Bush crickets

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Family:Gryllotalpidae - Mole crickets

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Family:Mogoplistidae - Scaly crickets

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Family:Myrmecophilidae - Ant-loving crickets

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Family:Tetrigidae - Pygmy locusts

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Sub family:Phalangopsinae - Spider crickets

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Family:Pyrgomorphidae - Gaudy grasshoppers

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Family:Stenopelmatidae - Jerusalem crickets

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Family:Tettigoniidae - Katydids

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Sub family:Conocephalinae - Meadow katydids

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Sub family:Pseudophyllinae - True katydids

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Sub family:Phaneropterinae - Phaneropterine katydids

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References

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  1. ^ "Orthoptera - Grasshoppers, Locusts, Crickets, Katydids -- Discover Life". www.discoverlife.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  2. ^ a b Wijesekara, Anura; Wijesinghe, D.P. "HISTORY OF INSECT COLLECTION AND A REVIEW OF INSECT DIVERSITY IN SRI LANKA". Ceylon Journal of Science: 59. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.379.2411. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ "Checklist of the Tridactylidae and Gryllidae (Insecta, Orthoptera) of Ceylon, with Records of Distribution". The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Cockscomb-shaped twighopper, Cladonotus bhaskari sp. n., a new and rare pygmy grasshopper species from Sri Lanka (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae: Cladonotinae)". Zootaxa 4821 (2): 333–342. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  5. ^ Bambaradeniya, Channa N. B. (2006). The Fauna of Sri Lanka: Status of Taxonomy, Research, and Conservation. ISBN 9789558177518. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  6. ^ Ranjana, Jaiswara. "Phalagopsidae crickets from indian region Grylloidea), with the descriptions of new taxa, diagnoses for genera, and a key to Indian genera". academia.edu. Retrieved 6 June 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ Wagana, M. S.; Kevana, D. K. McE. (1 August 2012). "Studies on some Tetrigidae (Orthoptera) from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka". Tropical Zoology. 5 (2): 167–194. doi:10.1080/03946975.1992.10539191.
  8. ^ "Checklist of Conocephalini (Meadow katydids) species in Sri Lanka". Insectoid.Info. Retrieved 6 June 2016.