Orthoptera Grylloidea: India
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Orthoptera Grylloidea
Introduction
The superfamily Grylloidea constitutes among Orthoptera an important section of the suborder Ensifera, which includes crickets and mole-crickets. The members of this group are not of much economic importance, except a few species of genera Gryllotalpa, Gryllus and Trigonidium, which are known to attack crops of paddy, potato, tea, jute and citrus. Crickets and mole-crickets are readily recognised by long antennae, presence of auditory organs on anterior tibiae, posterior legs with femora strongly dilated at base for jumping, all tarsi three-segmented, male elytron transformed into stridulatory organs, and ovipositor very large, usually extending much beyond the abdominal extremity.
The habits of the grylllids are variable. Many of them live on the ground and often burrow a hole, while the others are found on different plants .. Subterranean and cavernicolous species are also found. Gryllids are found in dry" conditions, but most of them prefer moisture and sOme species have adapted to almost an aquatic habit. The food of crickets consists of all kinds of animal and vegetable matters.
Historical Resume
Charpentier (1825) was probably the first worker to initiate studies 'on this group. Subsequently Serville (1831, 1939), Bolivar (1862, 1865), Saussure (1877-1878) and Walker (1859-1871) also conducted studies on gryllids. But the foundation for modern systematic work was laid down by Chopard who in 1926 undertook a revision of Indian gryllids. He published a series of papers on Indian gryllids and his effo$ were culminated in the publication of a volume on Grylloidea in 1969 under 'Fauna of India' series. In this work,Chopard has also dealt with gryllid fauna of Burma, Malaya, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Chopard,s Fauna gave an impetus to workers in ZSI to explore and study the Grylloidea fauna of India. Bhowmik (1967-1977 and 1985), Tandon and Shishodia (1972-1974), Shishodia and Tandon(1975-1977, 1987), Vasanth et al., (1975), Vasanth (1980), Sinha et al.(1977), Bhargava (1982) and Agarwal et ale (1989) contributed substantially towards our knowledge of Grylloidea of India As regards the world fauna, several workers like Gorokhov (1978-1987), Harz (1979), Holst (1987), Koehler and Sander (1986), Larochelle (1977), Love and Walker (1979), Oue (1983), Oue and Alexander (1983) DUe and' Cade (1983), Due and Rentz (1987), Toms and Otte (1989), Townsend (1983) and Yamasaki (1979) worked on Grylloidea and added numerous genera and species.
Cytotaxonomical researches have also been conducted on gryllids by various workers in India, e.g. Ali (1979), Arora and Rao (1979), Asana.et al.(1940), Bhattacharjee and Manna (1967), Dutta (1949), Manna and Bhattacharjee (1970 .. 1972), Manna (1979), Raman and Rao (1975), Singh (in press) and Vasintha and Bole Gowda (1967). These workers have studied chromosonal polymorphism, cytotaxonomical survey of the group, behaviour of chromosomes during meiosis, sex chromosomes, spermatogenesis, and general studies on chromosomes of some species of gryllids.
Estimation or Taxa
The gryllids are known to occur in almost all the. major ecosystems in India. General faunistic surveys have been made by scientists of the department from different parts of the country for the past so many years.
Chopard (1967) has reported 2255 speties distributed over 12 families and 364 genera from the world, of which 181 species and (i4 genera are from In4ia. Later, Bhowmik (1967-1985), Tandon and Shishodia (1972-1974), Shishodia.,and Tandon (1975-1987),. Biswas et al. (1977), Vasanth et al. (1975), Vasanth (1980), Sinha et al.(1977), Bhargava (1982) and Agarwal et al. (1989) have described and recorded a number of new genera and species of Grylloidea from India. As a result of all these studies, a total of 225 species distributed over 67 genera are now known from India.
Classified Treatment
The classification of Grylloidea has been established by Saussilre (1877-1878). In hi$ excellent monograph he has discussed the important morphological characters and divided the group into large divisions. Although a large number of species have been described since the publication of Saussure's work, yet his monograph still remains the basis of modern classification. Chopard (1967) has divided Grylloidea into 12 families as follows : Gryllotalpidae, Gryllidae, Myrmecophilidae, Mogoplistidae, Scleropteridae Cacoplistidae, Pteroplistidae, Pentacentridae, Oecanthidae, Phalangopsidae, Trigonidiidae and Eneopteridae.•
Current Studies
At present the scientists of Zoological Survey of India are actively engaged in studying the taxonomy of the group under a scheme of State Fauna Series. The gryllid fauna of Orissa (Shishodia &Tandon, 1987), West Bengal (Shisbodia &Tandon, in press) and Tripura (Shishodia &Tandon, in press) are the outcome of such studies.
Expertise India
In ZSI
H. K. Bhowmik, Sunderban Field Research Station, Zoological Survey of India, Canning, 24¬Parganas South, West Bengal.
S. K. Tandon &M.S. Shishodia, Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipur, Calcutta -700053.
M. Vasanth, Zoological Survey of India, 100, SanthoOle High Road, Madras -600 028. R. N. Bhargava, Zoological Survey of India, 'Pataudi House', 'B' Road, 3rd Street, Paota Lines, Jodhpur -342 006.
Abroad
A. V. Gorokhov, Zoological Institute of Akademy of Sciences, USSR, Leningrad (USSR).
B. C. Townsend, Department of Entomology, British Museum (Nat. Hist.), Cromwell Road~ London, SW 7 (England).
V. R. Vickery, Lyman Entomological Museum, P.O. Box 800, Macdonald College, P.O. (Canada). K. T. Holst, Lindevej 3, Hareskov (Denmark).
K. Harz, Harmann -Lons -Strasse 15,8031 Grobenzell bei, Munich (Germany).
Selected References
Bhowmik, H. K. 1970. The gryllid fauna (Orthoptera : Insecta) of the Great Nicobar Island, India.
Bhowmik, H. K. 1985. Conbi~utioD to the gryllid fauna of the Western Himalayas (Orthoptera : GryUidae). Rec. zooI. Surv. India. Occ. Paper. No. 73 : 1-85.
Chopard. L. 1967-1968. Orthopterorum Catalogus, Part 10 : 1-211; Part 12 : 215-500. Chopard. L. 1969. The !(luna of India and adjacent countries. Orthoptera, 2 : Grylloidea. The Manager of Publication, Delhi, xviii + 421 pp. Otte, D. &Alexander, R. D. 1983. The Australian crickets (Orthoptera : Gryllidae). Monograph .Acad. nat. sci. Philad. 22: 1-477.
Shishodia. M. S. &Tandon, S.K.. 1987. Insecta 0: Orthoptera :Grylloidea &Tridactyloidea. Fauna of Orissa: State Fauna Series No.1, Pt. i : 113-128. .
TandoD, S. K. & Shishodia, M.S. 1972. Notes on the collection of Grylloidea (Orthoptera) from NEPA, India" Oriental Ins. 6 (3) : 281-292.
Toms, R. B. &OUe, D. (1988) 1989. New genera, species and records of east and southern African tree crickets (Orthopters : Gryllidae : Oecanthidae). Ann. Transvaal Mus., 34 (2) : 469¬521. Townsend, B. C. 1983. A revision of the Afrotropical mole crickets (Orthoptem : Gryllotalpidae). Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Ent).46 (2) : 175-203.
