Orthoptera&others

Theyhave triangular heads on flexible necks and forelegs enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey. Their upright posture, while remaining stationary common, has led to the common name praying mantis. Eggs are a froth mass-produced by glands in the abdomen, that hardens, creating a protective capsule, called an ootheca.
They were considered to have supernatural powers by early civilizations, including Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, and Assyria.

Order Mantodea

Ancient Greek lepís = scale + pteron = wing

incomplete metamorphosis

33 families, 2400 described species

Also here a small book is quoted from a work with children, in which they invented the story of an imaginary people, based on the meeting with a Mantis.

This order is closely related to mayflies and several extinct orders from prehistoric times in a group called the Palaeoptera (Greek palaiós = old).
There are also small ones, but in this order of strong flyers there some of the largest insects in the world. All have aquatic larvae and all, larvae and adults, are carnivorous. The adults have short antennae, very large eyes, can land, but rarely walk, as their legs are specialised for catching prey.

Order Odonata

Ancient Greek odṓn = tooth

incomplete metamorphosis

27 families, 5900 described species

This suborder was proposed recently, including the infraorder Anisoptera (Greek anisos = unequal" + pteron = wing and the so called Anisozygoptera (only one genus, intermediate between dragonflies and damselflies). They are sturdy hunters and, to catch their prey in flight with their front legs, they have very good eyesight. An adult dragonfly's compound eyes have nearly 24,000 elements each.

Order Ephemeroptera

Gr.ephemera = short life + ptera = wing
incomplete metamorphosis

42 families, 3000 described species

This order is part of an ancient group of insects termed the Palaeoptera, which also contains dragonflies and damselflies, with ancestral traits that were probably present in the first flying insects.
From a middle school, we have here some interesting pictures of larvae at the microscope.

At rest, damselflies keep their wings folded over the body and not spread out like dragonflies. They are generally smaller and have slimmer and delicate bodies, however, members of the Pseudostigmatidae family (helicopter damselflies) are very long and have a huge wingspan.

Grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets are known to be jumping insects and are able to fold their wings (a feature of Neoptera, (greek néos = new) + pterón = wing), "modern" insects, compared to Paleoptera.
They produce a characteristic sound (known as a "stridulation") by rubbing their wings or their legs against each other and. Crickets have their "ear" (the organ with which they hear sounds) on the legs, Grasshoppers on the abdomen.

Order Orthoptera

Ancient Greek orthós = straight, + pterá = wings

incomplete metamorphosis

27 families, 20,000 described species

This suborder was proposed recently, including the infraorder Anisoptera (from Latin caelum = sky + fero = to take (the clouds of grasshoppers in flight?). are probably the oldest living group of chewing herbivorous insects. They are usually solitary, but some species under certain circumstances gregarious and, flying in huge flocks, are significant agricultural pests.

True crickets, bush crickets and others (from Latin ensis = swoard + fero = to take, for the long blade-like ovipositor of the females), they are supposed by scientists to be more "ancient" than Caelifera. They can be easily distinguished from Grasshoppers looking at their antennas, much longer. Most of species are herbivorous, but there are also carnivorous ones.