Orthoptera Tridactylodea: India

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This is an extract from ANIMAL RESOURCES OF INDIA: Protozoa to Mammalia State of the Art. Zoological Survey of India, 1991. By Professor Mohammad Shamim Jairajpuri Director, Zoological Survey of India and his team of devoted scientists. The said book is an enlarged, updated version of The State of Art Report: Zoology Edited by Dr. T. N. Ananthakrishnan, Director, Zoological Survey of India in 1980.

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Orthoptera Tridactylodea

Introduction

The members of tridactylids are commonly known as Pigmy-mole-crickets. They live on the banks of stagnant or flowing water, though some can tolerate areas which have dried up and where no surface water remains. Tridactylus quadrimaculatus is exceptjonal, as it lives in elephant trails, in scrub jungle in Sri Lanka (Blackith, 1979). These insects burrow into sandy ground, apparently feeding on fragments of vegetable matter. They also feed"by digesting bacterial, fungal and algal growth of the surface in the same way as do the earthworms. Faudras (quoted by Dufour, 1838) was the fJIst to suggest that nematodes in river silt might form a significant item of Tridactyloid diet.

These insects are completely absent in the areas covered by volcanic ash. The act of burrowing is not necessarily associated with feeding. Faudras (l.c.) was the fJIst to discover that tridactyloids swallow silt and sand under natural conditions. These insects are also capable of moving on or beneath the water sUrface. Majority of the species are unable to fly in adult stage, in spite of their wings, but many species lack wings. Tridactyloids are harmless creatures, instead they fall prey to many other animals like the beetles, birds, lizards and wasps which forage in river beds.

Historical Resume

Bwmeister (1838) was the fll'st who reported a tridactyloid in his 'Handbook of Entomology' ~ter, several other workers like Serville (1839), Scudder (1862), Walker (1~71), Saussure (1874¬1897), Brunner von Wattenwyl (1893), Bruner (1916), Kirby (1906), Ander (1934, 1938, 1939) etc. have worked on this group. Kirby (1906) has prepared a catalogue of this group along with the gryllids. Chopard(1928, 1935) has stu<ued tridactyloids of Indian region. Chopard (1925, 1936) and Sandrasagara (1954) have studied tridactylids of Sri Lanka. Recently, Gunther (1969-1986), Harz (1970) and Blackith (1987) have published a number ofpapers on the group.

Estimation of Taxa

Gunther (1980) has prepared a Catalogue on Tridactylodea, and has reported 157 species distributed in 11 genera and 3 families from the world, of which 16 species under 3 genera are found in India. Blackith &Blackith (1979), Gunther (1982), 1985, 1986) have added 6 more species from the world, but none of them are found in India.

Classified Treatment

The suborder Tridactylodea is divided into three families: Rhipipterygidae, Tridactylidae and Cylindrachetidae. The families Rhipipterygidae and Cylindrachetidae are not reported to occur in India. In other parts of world, the family Rhipipterygidae has 61 species under two genera, and family Cylindrachetidae has 7 species under two genera. The family Tridactylidae. is divided into two subfamilies: Tridactylines and Dentridactylinae. Subfamily Tridactylinae has 85 species under four genera, whereas Dentridactylinae has 10 species under two genera known from the world, of which 16 species occur in India. Thus, out of 163 species reported from the world, only 16 species are recorded from India so far.

Current Studies

At present no Indian scientist is working on the taxonomy of Indian Tridactylodea. However, a number of workers, like, Blackith, GUnther, Harz, Podgomaja' etc. are actively engaged on the taxonomy, morphology and ecology of the group in other countties.

Expertise

Abroad

K. K. Gunther, Museum fUr Naturkunde an der Humboldt-Universitat, Bereich Zoologisches Museum, DDR -104, Berlin, Invalidenstf. 43 (Germany). K. Harz, Hermann -LOns": Strasse 15,8031 Grobenzell bei Munich, (Germany). R. E. Blackith~ Department of Genetics, University of Melbourne, Parkville No.2, Victoria, (Australia).

Selected References

Chopard, L. 1925. GryUidae of Ceylon in the British Museum collection. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (9) 15 : 506-536. Chopard, L. 1928. Revision of the Indian Gryllidae. Rec.lndian Mus., 30: 1-36. Chopard, L. 1936. The Tridactylidae and GryUidae of Ceylon. Spolia zeylan., B 20 : 9-87. GUnther, K. K. 1974. Uber die Tridactyloidea in den" Sammlungen des Museum fur Naturgeschichte der Stadt genf. Rev. suisse Zool., 81 : 1027-1074. GUnther, K. K. 1975. Das genus Neotridactylus GUnther, 1972 (Tridactylidae, Saltatoria, Insecta). Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 51 : 305-365. . GUnther, K. K. 1977. Revision del gattung Ellipes Scudder, 1902 (Saltatoria~ Tridactylidae). DIsch. Enl. Z.NF., 24 : 47-122. GUnther, K. K. 1980. Katalog der Caelifera -unterordnung Tridac•tylodea. DIsch. Enl. ZN.F•• 27(1-3) : 149-178. Kirby, W. F. 1906. A Synonymic Catalogue of the Orlhoptera, 1: 7-13. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London. Sandrasagara, T. R. 1954. Check-list of the Tridactylidae and Grylli~ (Insecta, Orthoptera) of Ceylon, with records of distribution. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc., 52 : 540-562.