Narrative

This lifeform is scarce.

This lifeform is found in the SW USA (Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona)

Preying Mantids (Family Mantidae) are well-known for their waiting in a praying position ready to pounce upon other insects. The front legs are held open in front of the insect, and when their prey gets near, these legs close and small spines hold the prey in place. There are about 1,800 species of mantids known to science. Because of the unusual nature of these insects they are frequently studied, and one could presume that most of the species have already been described. Some scientists now place the mantids in their own order.

Grasshopper and Cricket Order (Order Orthoptera) members can usually be recognized by the large hind legs that are used for jumping. About twenty-three thousand species exist worldwide; of which thirteen hundred are found in the United States.

Some species of crickets and grasshoppers are very damaging to plants. The swarms of locusts that have descended upon crops are members of this order. How to Know the Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Cockroaches, and Their Allies, by Jacques R. Heifer is an excellent reference. Mr. Heifer mentions seven hundred and sixty of the thirteen hundred United States species of Orthopteroids. His book contains illustrations and pictures of most of that number.

Insects (Class Insecta) are the most successful animals on Earth if success is measured by the number of species or the total number of living organisms. This class contains more than a million species, of which North America has approximately 100,000. (Recent estimates place the number of worldwide species at four to six million.)

Insects have an exoskeleton. The body is divided into three parts. The foremost part, the head, usually bears two antennae. The middle part, the thorax, has six legs and usually four wings. The last part, the abdomen, is used for breathing and reproduction.

Although different taxonomists divide the insects differently, about thirty-five different orders are included in most of the systems.

The following abbreviated list identifies some common orders of the many different orders of insects discussed herein:

Odonata: - Dragon and Damsel Flies
Orthoptera: - Grasshoppers and Mantids
Homoptera: - Cicadas and Misc. Hoppers
Diptera: - Flies and Mosquitoes
Hymenoptera: - Ants, Wasps, and Bees
Lepidoptera: - Butterflies and Moths
Coleoptera: - Beetles

Jointed Legged Animals (Phylum Arthropoda) make up the largest phylum. There are probably more than one million different species of arthropods known to science. It is also the most successful animal phylum in terms of the total number of living organisms.

Butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers, various insects, spiders, and crabs are well-known arthropods.

The phylum is usually broken into the following five main classes:
Arachnida: - Spiders and Scorpions
Crustacea: - Crabs and Crayfish
Chilopoda: - Centipedes
Diplopoda: - Millipedes
Insecta: - Insects

There are several other rare classes in the arthropods that should be mentioned. A more formal list is as follows:

Sub Phylum Chelicerata
C. Arachnida: - Spiders and scorpions
C. Pycnogonida: - Sea spiders (500 species)
C. Merostomata: - Mostly fossil species

Sub Phylum Mandibulata
C. Crustacea: - Crabs and crayfish

Myriapod Group
C. Chilopoda: - Centipedes
C. Diplopoda: - Millipedes
C. Pauropoda: - Tiny millipede-like
C. Symphyla: - Garden centipedes

Insect Group
C. Insecta: - Insects

The above list does not include some extinct classes of Arthropods such as the Trilobites.