Why is grasshopper more adapted to dry land than crayfish? - (May/24/2009 )

Hi,
Anyone know why is grasshopper more adapted to dry land than crayfish? I have looked through books and searched a lot, but I am still unable to reach an answer :/ I would assume it is because of the wing and the legs? But I am not quite sure... Please help, thanks in advance.

Knight on May 25 2009, 08:03 AM said:

This is not my field and I am a bit hesitating to answer this. I even warn you that I had to look up what is 'crayfish' in wikipedia. But, you should also see their breathing apparatus. Wikipedia says crayfish breathe with gills. It should be different for grasshopper. Look up please, or wait for entomologists to arrive here.

Hi Nabi,
Thank you for your help.
Yes, I did write down the difference about breathing on my paper which I forgot to mention. I am assuming it is because of the breathing technique (Like you mentioned, crayfish breathe with gills while grasshopper breathe with spiracles) and the other difference is that grasshoppers have wings. Though I am not 100% sure since I am not into these stuff, but I want to find out the correct answers rather than just making assumptions alone.
Once again, thank you !

I am also not sure how would wings help to adapt to dry land much. Some of the insects/creatures living in the driest parts do not have wings. Anyways, good luck. For some reason, I too find this question interesting. We have some insectologists (read : entomologists) who might be coming for rescue.

I don't know alot about either grasshoppers or crayfish, but what about the way they mate and reproduce? Or the food they eat and what they can digest? What about their mode of locomotion? Or their coloring as camouflage or other means to thwart predation? All these are common adaptations to a particular niche.

Knight on May 25 2009, 01:03 AM said:

I'd say it's a zoologist question . Crayfish are crustaceans. Mostly it's the way to breath, I'd agree, the gills have to be in a wet/moist environment, that for example even isopods have to deal with (they keep them in a protected wet environment and keep them wet with a capillary system); some have also developed kind of lungs that support respiration if it's too dry for gills. Some even have tracheal inversions that mostly replace the gills. Therefore even desert isopods exist, though they live in caverns at least during day time. Land-living crabs always take their (salt)-water with them because they only have gills, so they live only near shore. Reproduction is the other problem, most have water-based larvae such as nauplius larvae, that only live in free water. Crabs only reproduce in water (shore nearby), isopods have special pouches called marsupium for their larvae. I guess osmoregulation is another problem, but I've to read, don't remember it.
Grasshoppers are only occurring (as almost all insects) on land (or fresh water). Salt-water insects are almost not existing, (perhaps replaced by crustaceans?). And they have of course all adoptions to live, move and reproduce even in dry and hot environments (legs, wings, tracheal respiration, water-proof cuticle, efficient water-retrieval by osmoregulation systems, efficient locomotory systems, etc).