Biology, sounds and vibratory signals of hooded katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phyllophorinae)

Abstract

The tettigoniid subfamily Phyllophorinae, distributed in Southeast Asia and Australia, is poorly known. Our study of the biology of Giant Katydid Siliquofera grandis (Blanchard, 1853) from a laboratory culture has shown that these insects mate more than once, the females lay a total of up to 400 eggs during their life, and these hatch after 2–2.5 months. The life cycle from egg to death takes longer than one year. In the laboratory, the insects fed mainly on leaves of various Rosaceae, Ficus, and lettuce, and on fruits. It is known that the males of hooded katydids lack the tegminal stridulatory apparatus typical for Tettigoniidae, but are capable of producing protest sounds using their coxosternal sound-producing organs for stridulation. Here, protest stridulation of the males and females and the sound-producing organs used to produce it have been analyzed in Phyllophorina kotoshoensis Shiraki, 1930 and S. grandis. In addition, nymphal protest sounds produced by friction of the metafemur against the edge of the pronotum and adult protest signals produced with the wings are described. In S. grandis, vibratory signals have been described and studied for the first time: territorial, protest, drumming and rhythmic low-amplitude vibrations emitted by adults and nymphs and pre- and postcopulatory vibrations of the males and females. The territorial signals not accompanied with visible movements of the body may be produced by contracting the antagonist muscles of the thorax and possibly of the legs. Using their coxosternal sound-producing organs males of S. grandis produced also an audible courtship song lasting for several seconds. Acoustic signals may thus both regulate intrapopulation relations and serve for interspecific communication (protest signals). The acoustic communication in Phyllophorinae is probably especially important during mating behavior.

Acoustic and vibrational signaling in true katydid Nesoecia nigrispina: three means of sound production in the one species

“…The function of post-copulation vibratory signals appears to be to prevent the premature removal of the spermatophore by the female. Similar, extremely high-amplitude signals were described by us in the giant katydids Siliquofera grandis (Korsunovskaya et al, 2020).…”

“…This type of signal is widespread throughout the acoustically active orthopterans. It is, for example, known among the katydid subfamily Conocephalinae (see, for example, Benediktov, 2014), many Pseudophyllinae (e. g. Morris et al, 1994; Barrientos-Lozano et al, 2020), Phyllophorinae (Korsunovskaya et al, 2020). In N. nigrispina , these signals have a clear rhythmic pattern; they are emitted by both males and females.…”

Acoustic and vibrational signaling in true katydid Nesoecia nigrispina: three means of sound production in one species

“…Function of post-copulation vibratory signals appears to result in prevention of premature removal of a spermatophore by a female. Similar, extremely high-amplitude signals were described by us for the giant katydids Siliquofera grandis ( Korsunovskaya et al, 2020 ). Of particular interest is the presence of two types of audible calling signals in species of the genus Nesoecia : with fast and slow rhythms ( Barrientos-Lozano et al, 2020 , current article).…”

“…, De Luca & Morris, 1998 ; Benediktov, 2014 ; Sarria-S et al, 2016 ), many Pseudophyllinae ( e.g. , Morris et al, 1994 ; Barrientos-Lozano et al, 2020 ), Phyllophorinae ( Korsunovskaya et al, 2020 ). In N. nigrispina , these signals have a clear rhythmic pattern; they are emitted by both males and females.…”

Acoustic signalling in Orthoptera

“…Which sex approaches may depend on the size of the nuptial gift the female receives (McCartney et al, 2012) or on the balance of risks incurred by moving (e.g. predation) for each sex (von Helversen et al, 2012) Stationary female system is common; in these species the male usually only performs phonotaxis if female response falls into narrow time-window after his song See review by Heller et al (2015) Male aggressive song (Spooner, 1964) 'Ticking' song that may function as territorial song (Spooner, 1968) Tettigoniidae: Phyllophorinae Males of Siliquofera grandis do not have a calling song; the same may apply to other species (Korsunovskaya et al, 2020) Courtship song Courtship vibrational signals by both males and females Post-copulation vibrational signal Territorial vibrational signal Tettigoniidae: Tettigoniinae Territorial song Courtship song See Zhantiev and Korsunovskaya (2019) Tettigoniidae: Zaprochilinae The male's calling song may also serve to repel other males (Simmons and Bailey, 1993) Orthopteran group Mating system (all involve male calling song to which silent female performs phonotaxis unless otherwise stated)…”