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Schizodactylidae is a family of orthopteran insects found in Asia and southern Africa, known as dune crickets or splay-footed crickets. They are usually found in desert and sandy areas.

Entomologists who first came across this insect in the early 19th century categorised it as just another species of the cricket family. It was years later that detailed studies were undertaken that established that although it belonged to the order Orthoptera (which includes the grasshoppers and crickets), it was not of the ‘true’ cricket family, as thought earlier.

Schizodactylus monstrosus, although known to very few, is among the most common in India. When noticed, the most frequent reaction the insect invites on itself is a stomp of the shoe. Not unlikely because manhandled, it bites ferociously.

These insects have an important role in the desert ecosystems. The adults as well as the nymphs are exclusively carnivorous, preying on beetles, grasshoppers, and other small insects for food. Survival of the fittest is the operant principle in the life of these ferociously cannibalistic creatures, which are even seen to pounce on each other when they come out of their burrows in search of food. In the desert food chain, these crickets are fodder for reptiles like snakes and lizards and birds such as partridges (chukar), falcons and whistling ducks.