Body Tremulations and Their Transmission as Vibrations for Short Distance Information Transfer Between Ephippiger Male and Female

Abstract

In the genus Ephippiger (Insecta: Ensifera: Tettigoniidae: Orthoptera) males signalize their reproductive state to females by emission of acoustic signals which comprise ultrasound components; these signals carry over long distances (several tens of meters) and apparently trigger tactic behavior/positive phonotaxis in the female. The orientation of females to locate males is nearly exclusively achieved by sound. However, in the natural environment, males which usually stay on branches or shrubby plants in ca. 50 cm to 1 m above the soil, upon perceiving vibrations of any kind (either by individuals of the same or other species) will perform a particular behavior which is reported here—to our knowledge—for the first time: the male will start alternating emissions of sound and bouts of tremulations of the entire body. In case an approaching female is in close vicinity of a male displaying such behavior, she will confirm her presence by performing similar tremulations. By simultaneous but separate recordings of sound emissions and tremulations, we could show that in Ephippiger bitterensis Chopard and E. ephippiger Fiebig these are indeed independent phenomena and constitute two separate communication channels.

This chapter is translated and edited by Hannelore Hoch, Marie-Claire Busnel & Peggy S. M. Hill.

This paper was originally published in French: Busnel, René-Guy; Pasquinelly, François & Dumortier, Bernard 1955. La trémulation du corps et la transmission aux supports des vibrations en résultant comme moyen d’information à courte portée des Éphippigères mâle et femelle. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France (Paris) LXXX(1, Séance du 11 Janvier 1955, Paru le 19 Juillet 1955): 18–22, 1 planche.

English translation and abstract by H. Hoch, Berlin, authorized and edited by M.-C. Busnel, Paris, and P.S.M. Hill, Tulsa. Translated and reprinted with kind permission of the Société zoologique de France.