Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Mar 18;9(3):e92366.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092366. eCollection 2014.

Fiddler on the tree--a bush-cricket species with unusual stridulatory organs and song

Klaus-Gerhard Heller  1 , Claudia Hemp  2
Affiliations

Fiddler on the tree--a bush-cricket species with unusual stridulatory organs and song

Klaus-Gerhard Heller et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Insects of the order Orthoptera are well-known for their acoustic communication. The structures used for this purpose show a high diversity which obviously relates to differences in song parameters and to the physics of sound production. Here we describe song and morphology of the sound producing organs of a tropical bush-cricket, Ectomoptera nepicauda, from East Africa. It has a very unusual calling song consisting of frequency-modulated, pure-tone sounds in the high ultrasonic range of 80 to 120 kHz and produced by extremely fast wing movements. Concerning morphology, it represents the most extreme state in the degree of left-right fore-wing differentiation found among Orthoptera: the acoustic parts of the left fore-wing consist exclusively of the stridulatory file, comparable in function to the bow of a violin, while the right wing carries only the plectrum ( = string) and mirror ( = soundbox).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Habitus of a male Ectomoptera nepicauda, alive.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Acoustic parts of the tegmina.
A Male from above, tegmina closed; B Left tegmen from below: stridulatory file; C Right tegmen from above: plectrum and mirror (same scale as B); D Stridulatory file.
Figure 3
Figure 3. File structure.
Intertooth intervals plotted in their natural sequence on the file.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Calling song of Ectomoptera nepicauda.
A Oscillogram of one complete phrase, containing two echemes and four single syllables. B Oscillogram of one echeme.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Calling song of Ectomoptera nepicauda.
Sonogram of all syllables of one echeme. A Syllables and intervals in scale. B Intervals shortened, lowest track amplitude in scale.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Calling song of Ectomoptera nepicauda.
Oscillograms (A), frequency analysis based on zero-crossing (B) and power spectra (C) of selected syllables (see Fig. 5).
Figure 7
Figure 7. Effects of temperature on song.
Instantaneous frequency based on zero-crossing analysis of single syllables at different temperatures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bethoux O (2012) Grylloptera – a unique origin of the stridulatory file in katydids, crickets, and their kin (Archaeorthoptera). Arthropod Syst Phylogeny 70: 43–68.
    1. Bennet-Clark HC (1989) Songs and the physics of sound production. In: Huber F, Moore TE, Loher W, editors. Cricket behavior and neurobiology. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press. pp: 227–261.
    1. Elliott CJH, Koch UT (1983) Sensory feedback stabilizing reliable stridulation in the field cricket Gryllus campestris . Anim Behav 31: 887–901.
    1. Forrest TG (1987) Sinistrality in the southern and tawny mole crickets (Gryllotalpidae: Scapteriscus). Fla Entomol 70: 284–286.
    1. Bennet-Clark HC (1970) The mechanism and efficiency of sound production in mole crickets. J Exp Biol 52: 619–652.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources