Anostostomatidae is a family of insects in the order Orthoptera, widely distributed in the southern hemisphere. It is named Mimnermidae or Henicidae in some taxonomies, and common names include king crickets in Australia and South Africa, and wētā in New Zealand (although not all wētā are in Anostostomatidae). Prominent members include the Parktown prawn of South Africa, and the giant wētā of New Zealand.
General characteristics Some members of this family can be quite large: Parktown prawn can exceed 6 cm and tree weta can exceed 8 cm in length.
Some Australian and Asian anostostomatids have wings (e.g. Exogryllacris, Gryllotaurus, Transaevum), while most lack wings (e.g. Anostostoma, Hypocophoides, Penalva).
Males of some species have highly modified heads, which they use in male-male conflicts.
Diet The wētā of New Zealand, such as Hemideina, are mostly herbivores that feed on leaves, fruit and flowers, but may also scavenge recently killed invertebrates. The ground wētā Anderus maculifrons eats a range of forest invertebrates.
The king crickets of Australia include generalised scavengers that consume various dead and decaying matter, specialised feeders (e.g. Exogryllacris feeds on fungal fruiting bodies growing on fallen trees) and predators of other invertebrates. There is a record of an Australian king cricket preying on a funnel-web spider.King Cricket eating Funnel-web-Spider at Australian Museum website.
Behaviour Anostostomatidae are nocturnal. They generally become active soon after sunset.
Anostostomatidae communicate with sound, both through the air and as ground waves through soil, wood and sand. Adults of both sexes and also nymphs can produce sound. These crickets hear sound using foretibial tympana or other modifications to the tibiae, tarsi and perhaps prothorax.
As one example, Anostostoma can stridulate by rubbing its abdomen against its hind legs. The sides of the base of the abdomen have dense patches of short, sharp pegs, and there are similar pegs on the inner surfaces of the hind femurs. Sound is produced by these pegs rubbing together.
Anostostomatidae use various behaviours to defend against predators. Many hide in burrows during the day to avoid diurnal predators. If disturbed by a predator, they may jump away, stridulate, eject putrid-smelling faeces, bite, fly away (done by winged Exogryllacris and Gryllotaurus) or jump into water (done by Transaevum nymphs, which feed on streamsides).
Life cycle Like other orthopterans, Anostostomatidae go through the three stages of egg, nymph and adult. Life cycles in this family are often long, with egg development taking up to 18 months, nymphal development taking 1–3 years and involving 7-10 instars, and adults living for a year or more. Adult females may brood eggs and young nymphs in isolated chambers.
Taxonomy and evolution At least one Cretaceous fossil of an anostostomatid-like cricket is known from Australia but has not been described. The modern distribution of this family in the southern hemisphere has led to speculation that members of this group owe their distribution to the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. This may be the case but evidence for the large scale if not total submergence of continental crust in the New Zealand and New Caledonian region in the Oligocene, indicates the possibility that wētā have arrived in these locations since re-emergence of land. The fact that anostostomatid crickets also occur on some Japanese islands supports this possibility.
Subfamilies and genera The Orthoptera Species FileOrthoptera Species File (Version 5.0/5.0: retrieved 23 December 2018) lists the following;
Anabropsinae Auth.: Rentz & Weissman, 1973 – Americas, Africa, India, E. Asia, Australasia tribe Anabropsini Rentz & Weissman, 1973 Anabropsis Rehn, 1901 (includes subgenera Paterdecolyus Griffini, 1913, Apteranabropsis and Pteranabropsis Gorochov, 1988) Exogryllacris Willemse, 1963: monotypic E. ornata Willemse, 1963 - Australia Melanabropsis Wang & Liu, 2020 - China, Japan tribe Brachyporini Gorochov, 2001 - Southern Africa, Australia Brachyporus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 Penalva Walker, 1870
Anostostomatinae Auth.: Saussure, 1859 – Africa (including Madagascar), Australia, New Zealand
Anostostoma Bochus Borborothis Carcinopsis Gryllotaurus Henicus Gray, 1837 Libanasidus, king crickets Motuweta, tusked wētā Nasidius Stål, 1876 Onosandridus Onosandrus Spizaphilus
Cratomelinae Auth.: Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 – South America Cratomelus Blanchard, 1851
Deinacridinae Auth.: Karny, 1932 – New Zealand Deinacrida, giant wētā Hemideina, tree wētā
Leiomelinae Auth.: Gorochov, 2011 – S. America Leiomelus Ander, 1936
Lezininae Auth.: Karny, 1932 – N. Africa, Middle East Lezina Walker, 1869
Lutosinae Auth.: Gorochov, 1988 – Central & S. America, Africa, PNG Apotetamenus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 Hydrolutos Issa & Jaffe, 1999 Libanasa Walker, 1869 Licodia Walker, 1869 Lutosa Walker, 1869 Neolutosa Gorochov, 2001 Papuaistus Griffini, 1911 Rhumosa Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, 2018
Subfamily not assigned tribe Glaphyrosomatini Rentz & Weissman, 1973 Cnemotettix Caudell, 1916 Glaphyrosoma Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 incertae sedis Aistus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 Anisoura Ander, 1932 – monotypic Northland tusked wētā: A. nicobarica Ander, 1932 Coccinellomima Karny, 1932 – monotypic C. shelfordi Karny, 1932 Dolichochaeta Philippi, 1863 – monotypic D. longicornis Philippi, 1863 Gryllacropsis Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 – monotypic (India) G. magniceps (Walker, 1870) Hemiandrus Ander, 1938 - ground wētā Hypocophoides Karny, 1930 Hypocophus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 Leponosandrus Gorochov, 2001 – monotypic L. lepismoides (Walker, 1871) Transaevum Johns, 1997 – monotypic T. laudatum Johns, 1997
King crickets of South Africa The best-known species is the Parktown prawn, not to be confused with the well-known Koringkrieke or armoured ground crickets, which never have been in the family Anostostomatidae.
Henicus monstrosus is a nocturnal anostostomatid. The males are unusual in their anatomy; their heads are disproportionately large and bear forward-directed prongs. They have extremely long, curved mandibles that are functional, but seem to play no part in the eating process.African Insect Life - SH Skaife (Longmans Green & Co,1953)
Wētā of New Zealand
Six genera of New Zealand wētā are part of the family Anostostomatidae: Giant wētā (Deinacrida) Ground wētā (Hemiandrus & Anderus) Northland tusked wētā (Anisoura) Tree wētā (Hemideina) Tusked wētā (Motuweta)
The cave wētā species belong to a different family, the Rhaphidophoridae.
Literature
1997: The Gondwanaland weta: family Anostostomatidae (formerly in Stenopelmatidae, Henicidae or Mimnermidae): nomenclatural problems, world checklist, new genera and species. Journal of Orthoptera Research, 6: 125–138. ,
References
External links
Family Anostostomatidae Saussure, 1859 at Orthoptera Species File Online The Families Stenopelmatidae and Anostostomatidae (Orthoptera). 1. Higher Classification, New and Little Known Taxa