More about the Specialist Group

We are 112 experts on grasshoppers, crickets, bush-crickets, mantids and stick insects from 44 countries, who are interested in the conservation of these amazing insects. 

Orthopteroidea are a diverse group of insects with more than 30.000 species. Many hitherto undescribed species are found in the tropics and even in temperate regions. They inhabit nearly all terrestrial habitats, including deserts, tropical forests, grasslands, savannahs and mountains. Some species are even aquatic and place their eggs in the stems of water plants. Grasshoppers and their allies are particularly rich in endemic species, as many of them are completely flightless. Range sizes of tropical Orthopteroidea are exceptionally small (smaller than in plants, vertebrates and many insect taxa). Therefore, they represent an ideal group to locate areas of high species richness.

Although most Orthopteroid insects are rather small and inconspicuous, they also include a number of colourful and charismatic species, e.g. the world's rarest insect (Lord Howe Island Stick Insect: Dryococelus australis), the world's longest insect (Phobaeticus chani), and the colourful families Pyrgomorphidae and Romaleinae. Only a few species are known to cause serious damage (Locusts). 

Our aim is to conserve Orthopteroid insects (grasshoppers, katydids, crickets, mantids, stick insects) and their habitats around the world.