Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids

Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids - Order Orthoptera
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    A distinctive grasshopper, probably Romaleidae, from Costa Rica.
    Cryptic grasshopper from Panama.
    Mole cricket! (Gryllotalpidae: Neocurtilla hexadactyla, from Iowa). These funky critters are a beautiful example of convergent evolution; that is, traits that evolve independently from (relatively) unrelated lineages in response to a similar problem. Put another way, the ancestors of mammalian moles and mole crickets evolved a structurally analogous solution (large, powerful front legs with lots of surface area that excel at pushing soil in a lateral motion) to a shared challenge (needing to dig to find food and avoid predators).