Courtship song is more variable than calling song in the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus

We examined the effects of temperature and age on calling song in the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus. Teleogryllus oceanicus has a complex calling song made up of two different kinds of chirp, long and short. The long chirp is made up of three to eight single pulses of sound and the short chirp consists of several paired pulses. The properties of T. oceanicus calling song did not vary with age, but almost every property of the song varied with temperature. Pulse duration, interpulse interval, and pulse rate in both the long and the short chirp varied with temperature. The number of pulses in the long chirp, number of chirps in the short chirp, chirp rate in the short chirp, duration of the long chirp, carrier frequency of both the short and long chirps, and total song duration were also affected by temperature. The duration of the short chirp and the degree of frequency modulation were the only characteristics that did not vary with temperature. Temperature does not affect the properties of the long and short chirps in the same manner. The long chirp decreases in duration with temperature and has fewer pulses, while the short chirp stays the same in duration and contains a higher number of chirps. These data demonstrate that temperature influences calling-song parameters in a field cricket with a complex calling song.

Download Full-text

Genotypic variation in calling song and female preferences of the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus

Animal Behaviour ◽

10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.12.004 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 68 (2) ◽

pp. 313-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Leigh W. Simmons

Keyword(s):

Genotypic Variation ◽

Calling Song ◽

Field Cricket ◽

Teleogryllus Oceanicus ◽

Female Preferences

Download Full-text

The role of antennal sensory cues in female responses to courting males in the cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.200.3.511 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 200 (3) ◽

pp. 511-522 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

R Balakrishnan ◽

G Pollack

Keyword(s):

Acoustic Signal ◽

Zinc Sulphate ◽

Chemical Cues ◽

Courtship Song ◽

Field Cricket ◽

Sensory Organ ◽

Sensory Cues ◽

Teleogryllus Oceanicus ◽

Female Responses

Courtship communication in the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus is multimodal, involving a minimum of both acoustic and chemical cues. The acoustic signal, or courtship song, is necessary to elicit normal levels of female mounting of the male during courtship. Antennal input is also crucial since antennectomized females show highly reduced levels of mounting. Immobilization of the scapepedicel and pedicelflagellum joints of female antennae had no effect on mounting probability, suggesting that mechanosensory input from chordotonal organs at the base of the antenna is not necessary. The antennal flagellum is a multimodal sensory organ, which contains both mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors. In order to dissect the roles of different flagellar modalities, we treated antennae with zinc sulphate. This suppressed a well-characterized contact-chemosensory behaviour, initiation of courtship by males, and eliminated responsiveness of most chemosensory hairs as assayed electrophysiologically. Zinc sulphate treatment had no effect on a tactile antennal reflex, indicating that it selectively silenced chemoreceptors. Treatment of antennae with zinc sulphate reduced mounting levels nearly as much as antennectomy, suggesting that the main antennal cue required for the mounting responses is chemosensory, rather than mechanosensory, in nature.

Download Full-text