Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 25, 2026

Acridoidea

Acridoidea is the largest superfamily of grasshoppers in the order Orthoptera with over 11,000 species found on every continent except Antarctica.

Last revised
Jun 25, 2026
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Acridoidea
Miramella alpina
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Caelifera
Infraorder: Acrididea
Nanorder: Acridomorpha
Superfamily: Acridoidea
MacLeay, 18211
Families

See Classification.

Synonyms
  • Acridina MacLeay, 1821
  • Acridiodea MacLeay, 1821
  • Akridiodea
  • Pamphagoidea Burmeister, 1840
Teratodes monticollis source ↗

Acridoidea is the largest superfamily of grasshoppers in the order Orthoptera with over 11,000 species found on every continent except Antarctica.2

Classification

Orthoptera Species File includes the following families:2

incertae sedis
  • Microtmethis Karny, 1910 (monotypic)

Chromosomes

Among the families Acrididae, Ommexechidae and Romaleidae there is reported to be chromosomal stability with a high frequency of species harbouring diploid number (2n) of 23♂/24♀ chromosomes.34 In species of Acrididae and Romaleidae it is common to have acrocentric chromosomes with a fundamental number (FN), i.e. number of chromosome arms, of 23♂/24♀.4 However, chromosomal rearrangements are frequently found as deviations from the standard acrocentric karyotype. In the subfamily Ommexechinae most species show a unique karyotype (2n = 23♂/24♀, FN = 25♂/26♀) due to the occurrence of a large autosomal pair (L1) with submetacentric morphology.4 There is some support for 'Mesa's hypothesis' of an ancestral pericentric inversion in the ancestor of Ommexechinae to explain this karyotype variation.5647

References

References

  1. MacLeay WS (1821) Horae Entomologicae or Essays on the Annulose Animals (from www.biodiversitylibrary.org originally as "Acridina").
  2. Orthoptera Species File: superfamily Acridoidea MacLeay, 1821 (retrieved 4 April 2026)
  3. G. M. Hewitt (1979). "Insecta 1: Orthoptera. Grasshoppers and crickets". In B. John; H. Bauer; H. Kayano; A. Levan; M. White (eds.). Animal cytogenetics 3. Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  4. A. Mesa; A. Ferreira; C. S. Carbonell (1982). "Cariología de los acridoideos neotropicales: estado actual de su conocimiento y nuevas contribuciones". Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. 18: 507–526.
  5. A. Mesa (1963). "Acerca de la cariología de Ommexechidae (Orthoptera-Acridoidea)". Revista de la Sociedad Uruguaya de Entomología. 5: 37–43.
  6. A. Mesa; A. Ferreira (1977). "Cytological studies in family Ommexechidae (Orthoptera-Acridoidea)". Acrida. 6: 261–271.
  7. Santander, Mylena D.; Cabral-de-Mello, Diogo C.; Taffarel, Alberto; Martí, Emiliano; Martí, Dardo A.; Palacios-Gimenez, Octavio M.; Castillo, Elio Rodrigo D. (2021). "New insights into the six decades of Mesa's hypothesis of chromosomal evolution in Ommexechinae grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acridoidea)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 193 (4): 1141–1155. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa188. hdl:11449/230080.