Mogoplistidae

Mogoplistidae
Mogoplistes brunneus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Orthoptera
Suborder:	Ensifera
Superfamily:	Grylloidea
Family:	Mogoplistidae
Genera
See text

Mogoplistidae is a family of scaly crickets within the superfamily Grylloidea.^[1] Considered to be monophyletic, a sister taxon to the Gryllidae crickets. This family consists of 30 genera and 364 species worldwide,^[2] 4 genera and 20 species in North America.

Ecology

These crickets can be found in the southeastern US, especially Florida, and many other sandy tropical/subtropical environments near water. Like many other crickets, they are omnivorous scavengers and will eat fungi, plant material, and other insects. Members of this family are distinguished from closely related families by the scales that covers their abdomen and parts of their thorax and resemble those of Lepidoptera.

History

The family was originally described by Brunner von Wattenwyl in 1873,^[3] but a genus (mogoplistes) was described earlier, 1838, by Serville^[4] and was the basis for the family nomenclature. Mogoplistidae has three subfamilies: Mogoplistinae, Malgasiinae and Protomogoplistinae. Little work has been completed to classify and describe these crickets although work has been done on their acoustic development and identification of new characters.^[5]

References