Females prefer males producing a high-rate song with shorter timbal–stridulatory sound intervals in a cicada species

Abstract

Uncovering mate choice and factors that lead to the choice are very important to understanding sexual selection in evolutionary change. Cicadas are known for their loud sounds produced by males using the timbals. However, males in certain cicada species emit two kinds of sounds using respectively timbals and stridulatory organs, and females may produce their own sounds to respond to males. What has never been considered is the mate choice in such cicada species. Here we investigate the sexual selection and potential impact of predation pressure on mate choice in the cicada Subpsaltria yangi Chen. It possesses stridulatory sound-producing organs in both sexes in addition to the timbals in males. Results show that males producing calling songs with shorter timbal–stridulatory sound intervals (TSI) and a higher call rate achieved greater mating success. No morphological traits were found to be correlated with mating success in both sexes, suggesting neither males nor females display mate preference for the opposite sex based on morphological traits. Males do not discriminate among responding females during mate search, which may be due to the high energy costs associated with their unusual mate-seeking activity and the male-biased predation pressure. Females generally mate once but a minority of them re-mated after oviposition which, combined with the desirable acoustic traits of males, suggest females may maximize their reproductive success by choosing a high-quality male in the first place. This study contributes to our understanding mechanisms of sexual selection in cicadas and other insects suffering selective pressure from predators.

The best of both worlds: cicada males change costly signals to achieve mates while females choose a mate based on both calling and courtship songs

“…kaempferi who succeeded in mating have a significantly higher CR than those that failed to attract females. A similar phenomenon was found in the cicada S. yangi , in which males who produced calling songs with a higher rate achieved greater mating success ( Hou et al 2021 ). Males of such species emitting calls at a higher rate may increase a male’s probability of obtaining females and reduce the females’ search costs ( Fellers 1979 ; Sanches et al 2017 ).…”

“…kaempferi , the first quadrat visited was rotated each day (in day 1 of sampling, we visited quadrats in the order of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; the following day’s order was then 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, and so on). Remaining quadrats were then visited in ascending numerical order each day ( Hou et al 2021 ).…”

“…Aside from calling songs, males of Magicicada species (e.g., M agicicada septendecim (L.) and M agicicada cassini (Fisher)) can also produce 2 types of courtship songs when they land in close proximity to females ( Alexander and Moore 1958 , 1962 ; Alexander 1967 ). Hou et al (2017 , 2021 ) found that in the rare Chinese cicada Subpsaltria yangi Chen, the males sometimes also emit sporadic courtship songs during the pair-formation process. In addition, Doolan and Young (1989) showed that in the bladder cicada Cystosoma saundersii (Westwood) identification of conspecific males by females is a 2-stage process, with the carrier frequency of the male calling song being more important in species recognition in long-range communication (flight of females to advertising males) and the temporal parameters of the calling song being more important in short-range communication (courtship).…”