Subclass Pterygota:
Pterous (winged) insects, develop by metamorphosis
Division Exopterygota
(exo = outer; pteron = wing)
Orthopteroid orders
(orthos = straight; pteron = wing)
Order Grylloblattodea
(gryll = cricket; blatta = cockroach)
(Also known as order Notoptera)
COMMON NAME: Rock crawlers, ice insects
QUICK DESCRIPTION: Rock crawlers look like a combination of a cricket and a cockroach. They have long wingless bodies with widespread legs and "tails", biting mouthparts, small eyes and long antennae. They live in remote, icy areas, feed on plants and small insects, and spend most of the year frozen. Some species will die from the warmth of a human hand.
MINUTE DETAILS: Elongate insects; mouthparts mandibulate, compound eyes reduced or absent, ocelli absent, antennae long and filiform; thoracic segments similar and well distinguished, legs virtually identical with large coxae and five-segmented tarsi, wings and auditory organs absent; abdomen with long, segmented cerci, females with well developed ovipositor, males with asymmetrical genitalia.
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