Gryllotalpidae Leach, 1815

Diagnosis. Cylindrical body, dorsoventrally depressed, velvety body surface, most conspicuous in the pronotum and first leg pair (figs. 6, 22, 23, 110, 112). Sub conical head strongly joined to the body (fig. 12). Compound eyes present and usually accompanied by a pair of lateral ocelli, antennae shorter than body, slightly longer than the pronotum (an exception within the suborden Ensifera, where antennae are usually longer than the body). Enlarged, shield-like pronotum, three times as long as the head, with a furrow in the pronotal disc, which invaginates in the interior of the pronotum to support the first pair of legs and the head (figs. 12–15). First leg pair modified for digging (fossorial), fore limbs present, first and second tarsomeres of the first pair of legs modified in ancillary dactyls (figs. 16–21), hind femur slightly enlarged and not completely adapted to jumping. Ovipositor in females obsolete and inconspicuous. Phallic complex invaginate at rest and with transversal sclerotization. Hyalinus plate present, enveloping the ventral structure of the phallic complex, enabling the union of the two main phallic layers (epiphallus and ectophallus). Dorsal phallic gland present, covering most of the dorsal region of the genitalia, connecting the median prolongation with the ejaculatory conduct. Endophallus undifferentiated, ectophallus and epiphallus prominent. Epiphallus composed of a transversal sclerite with diverse form (varying among genera), connected to the central region of the epiphallus by a peduncle (base of the transversal sclerite). Median prolongation composed by a tubular prominence (bmp) and an apical sclerite (amp), epiphallic sclerification transversal. Ectophallus composed of parameres (ectophallic parameres of epi-ectophallic invagination), connected to the basal plate; internal process of ectophallic present with variable shape (figs. 32–37).