ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION IN THE TRILLING FIELD CRICKET, GRYLLUS-RUBENS (ORTHOPTERA, GRYLLIDAE)

Male field crickets produce calling songs that are used for attracting conspecific females for mating. Acoustic communication was studied in the trilling field cricket, Gryllus rubens. A "trilled" calling song consists of a continuous train of sound pulses, each of which was repeated at a stereotyped rate. Singing males were recorded at different temperatures. The pulse period of the calling song decreased with increasing temperature; there was less effect of temperature on pulse duration. Female phonotaxis was studied on a noncompensating, spherical treadmill. In two-stimulus (choice) playback experiments, females preferred the conspecific "trilled" song over the "chirped" calling song of a sympatric species, Gryllus fultoni. This preference persisted even when the song of G. fultoni was 6 dB louder. Females also discriminated between synthetic trills having different pulse periods; females chose trills with the conspecific pulse period over trills having lower and higher pulse periods.