A review of escape behaviour in orthopterans

In most situations, escaping from a predator may not be a simple decision to make, mainly because of the number and complexity of factors that might influence escape behaviour. There is rich literature on how different factors affect escape behaviour, and on the mechanisms involved, but to date, very little synthesis exist, with the exception for escape behaviour in vertebrates. Little is known about the general patterns affecting the escape decisions in arthropod taxa, even though vast research exists describing how different variables affect their escape behaviour. Here, I’ll summarize the main factors that influence the escape decisions in a particular group of arthropods, the orthopterans. I decided to focus on this taxon because we have a good understanding of the neural bases for their escape response as well as their sensory systems. Thus, my objective is to connect general patterns of the escape decisions with the mechanisms explaining how escape behaviour operates.