Communication with Signals Produced by Abdominal Vibration, Tremulation, and Percussion inPodisus maculiventris(Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

Abstract

Mating behaviors of the predaceous spined soldier bug, Podisus maculiventris (Say) (Pentatomidae: Asopinae), were observed, and vibrational signals used in intraspecific communication were recorded and analyzed. Only males produced vibrational signals, using three different vibrational modes: vibration of the abdomen, percussion with the front legs, or tremulation of the body. When recorded on a nonresonant substrate (a loudspeaker membrane), the mean dominant frequency of signals produced by abdominal vibration varied between 90 and 140 Hz, and of tremulatory signals between 8 and 22 Hz. Percussion signals were broad-band, with the dominant frequency ≈97 Hz and lower amplitude spectral peaks between 1,500 and 3,000 Hz. In the courtship phase of mating behavior, males emitted pulse trains composed of an abdominal vibration after a tremulatory pulse. Females stimulated by signals of abdominal vibration and composite signals expressed searching behavior and orientation toward the source of vibration, whereas no specific reaction to tremulatory signals was observed. Observations of mating behavior and playback experiments showed that the abdominal vibration signals had both long range calling and short range recognition functions. Tremulatory signals were emitted at close range and were essential for copulation to occur. The sequences of fast and repeated percussion signals were emitted both as individual signals during calling and courting or between vibratory and tremulatory pulses. However, unlike the other vibrational signals, percussion did not seem to be emitted in a particular behavioral context, and its possible function in eliciting responses from females is unclear.

Predatory bug Picromerus bidens communicates at different frequency levels

“…Both species produced signals by abdominal vibrations and tremulation, but the percussion signals recorded from P. maculiventris had no apparent counterpart in P. bidens. On the other hand, the song repertoire of P.bidens contained one female and four different male songs whereas P. maculiventris females were silent and males produced just one song type by abdominal vibration [4]. Tremulatory signals of both species shared similar characteristics and were comparable with signals previously reported from male P. bidens [14].…”

“…The songs produced by male P. bidens are more similar to those of phytophagous stink bugs [19] than to the signals described to date from male Asopinae [4,15]. The MS1 short pulses triggered by signals from females give rise either to longer MS2 songs or to more complex MS3 pulse trains.…”

“…Vibratory and tremulatory signals produced by male and female P. bidens were recorded as vibrations of a nonresonant substrate to avoid any distortion of the emitted signal characteristics [5,15,18] and to enable direct comparison with signals recorded from P. maculiventris [4] and several other stink bugs [19]. Comparison of the signals of P. bidens and P. maculiventris suggested similarities in vibration production mechanisms, but differences in the song repertoire.…”

“…Signals were recorded in December 2009 between 0900 and 1600 h under laboratory and daylight conditions at room temperature (23±1°C) and 40-50% relative humidity. For comparative reasons, and to eliminate the influence of substrate on characteristics of vibratory signals, we used the same recording technique as described for the spined soldier bug P. maculiventris [4]. Signals were recorded from bugs placed on a 10-cm-diameter low-midrange loudspeaker (40-6000 Hz frequency response, 8-Ω impedance, Radio Shack, Taipei, Taiwan).…”

Podisus nigrispinus requer cópulas longas para o sucesso reprodutivo

“…Em múltiplas cópulas, as fêmeas podem escolher machos que trazem maiores benefícios (Berrigan & Locke 1991, Parker & Simmons 1994. Para alguns insetos, recursos oferecidos como território, morfologia genital, peso e tamanho do macho ou o tamanho de estruturas relacionadas ao comportamento de coorte são sexualmente selecionados e estão associados ao sucesso de cópula (Andersson 1994, Andersson & Iwasa 1996, Tadler et al 1999, Žunič et al 2008. Neste estudo, duas hipóteses foram testadas: 1) fêmeas de P. nigrispinus ao realizar múltiplas cópulas escolhem machos que oferecem maiores mantidas e observadas a cada dois dias com substituição da presa consumida, coleta das posturas e contagem de fêmeas sobreviventes.…”