Overview
All species are confined to wet forests, rock outcrops and caves. They are mainly omnivorous scavengers; one Australian species was observed to kill and feed upon newly hatched kestrel chicks (A.M. Richards 1970). Some are long-lived with one Australian species requiring 2.5 years to mature and going through 7 instars. Eight subfamilies have been recognised of which one, the
Macropathinae
, has often been given familial status. Only Macropathinae occur in Australia; seven endemic genera have been described from the east coast, Tas. and the caves of the Nullarbor Plain. The subfamily has a circum-Antarctic distribution. [Ramsay 1979; A.M. Richards 1970, 1971, 1987.]
Description
Apterous, hump-backed cricket-like insects (called camel crickets or cave crickets), usually with slender, elongate appendages. Fastigium of vertex narrow, and usually apically divided. Tarsi compressed, without plantulae. Tibial auditory tympana absent.