Calling song and phonotactic selectivity in the field cricket Teleogryllus emma (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

Abstract

Males of the field cricket Teleogryllus emma produce calling songs that are attractive to receptive females. The calling songs of T. emma consist of two components, the long chirp that is composed of up to 12 single pulses, followed by a variable number of short chirps. Based on the analysis of coefficient of variation (CV), temporal characters of the long chirp were less variable than those of the short chirps in male calling songs. To test for phonotactic selectivity of females, we conducted a single-stimulus playback experiment in which five stimuli (standard, long chirp only, long chirp augmented, short chirps only, and short chirps augmented) were used. The standard stimulus included both long and short chirps whose characteristics were derived from the calling songs of field populations. Results of the playback experiment showed that female crickets oriented more frequently toward the stimuli that included the long chirp (standard, long chirp only, and long chirp augmented stimuli) than toward the stimuli lacking the long chirp (short chirps only and short chirps augmented stimuli), indicating that the long chirp in the calling songs was required to elicit positive phonotaxis in the female crickets. The result of CV analysis of the male calling songs and the findings of the female phonotaxis experiment suggested that the long chirp of calling songs may play a role in species recognition in T. emma. © The Ecological Society of Korea.