Ultrasonic reverse stridulation in the spider-like katydidArachnoscelis(Orthoptera: Listrosceledinae)

Abstract

This paper illustrates the biomechanics of sound production in the neotropical predaceous katydid Arachnoscelis arachnoides (Insecta: Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Described and previously known from only one male specimen, this genus of predaceous katydids resembles spiders in their general body appearance. To call distant females, male katydids produce songs by stridulation where one forewing possessing a sclerotized file rubs against a row of teeth (scraper) on the other wing. In most katydid species, the songs are produced during the wing-closing phase of the stridulation. Morphological comparative studies of the stridulatory apparatus of the type specimen of Arachnoscelis arachnoides and males of other closely related species suggest that this insect sings with a frequency of ca. 80 kHz to attract conspecific females. We found an abundant population of A. arachnoides in Central Northeast of Colombia and undertook a complete analysis of the biomechanics of stridulation in this species. Using ultrasound-sensitive equipment and high-speed video, we determined that male A. arachnoides sing at ca. 74 kHz and use elastic energy and wing deformation to reach such ultrasonic frequencies. In contrast to most katydids, males of this species produce their calls during the opening phase of the wing; this form of stridulation is discussed. © 2014 © 2013 Taylor & Francis

Structural biomechanics determine spectral purity of bush-cricket calls

“…Wide-bandwidth, high-frequency microphones were used to record the calls for each specimen in laboratory conditions and the method of recording has been previously described [ 6 ]. Here, we quantify tonality as spectral entropy and this was obtained from a power spectral density (PSD, hanning window, nfft = 2048 points) over a representative syllable isolated from each species.…”

Functional morphology of tegmina-based stridulation in the relict speciesCyphoderris monstrosa(Orthoptera: Ensifera: Prophalangopsidae)

“…Given this non-specialization of vibrating areas, the question of how such resonant tuning is achieved, through the morphology of the wing, presents itself. The mirror of bush crickets is usually bounded by a thick frame (Morris and Pipher, 1967;Bailey, 1970;Montealegre-Z and Postles, 2010;Bethoux, 2012;Chivers et al, 2014;Sarria-S et al, 2016) (Fig. 1C).…”

“…Most noticeable about most modern bush crickets (family: Tettigoniidae, ∼7000 species according to Eades et al, 2016) is the bilateral asymmetry between the forewings (Dumortier, 1963;Montealegre-Z and Postles, 2010;Gu et al, 2012;Chivers et al, 2014;Sarria-S et al, 2016;Cole and Chiang, 2016). The major radiating wing cell is named the mirror and is found primarily on the right wing, with the functioning file being on the left wing.…”

Effective use of Press Releases in the Marketing of Academic Journals

“…Conversely, the second paper from the journal to be the subject of a press release at the same time, a piece on 'the biomechanics of sound production in the neotropical predaceous katydid Arachnoscelis arachnoides', achieved less than 100 full-text downloads in the same period of time 9 . In this case, the press release was coordinated by a university in the UK, while Taylor & Francis supported by providing free access to the paper and promoting news of this via the relevant social media pages and subject news pages.…”