Evolution of Call Patterns and Pattern Recognition Mechanisms in Neoconocephalus Katydids

Insect Hearing

“…In this species, the homologous AN1 neuron responds only with a single spike to each pulse pair, that is, with half the rate of N. robustus . The neuron's responses in the two species correspond nicely to the behavioral preference functions (Triblehorn and Schul 2009 ; see also Schul et al 2014 ). Another katydid, Tettigonia viridissima (great green bushcricket), does also produce calls with double pulses, in which pulse pairs are separated by longer intervals.…”

“…9.8 ; for details see Clemens and Hennig 2013 ;Hennig et al 2014 ). The ease with which different fi lter shapes and the correspondingly different preference functions can be obtained is particularly interesting in view of the evolutionary divergence of species-specifi c communication systems in crickets and katydids (Heller 1988 ;Schul et al 2014 ). For example, the two closely related Australian crickets Teleogryllus commodus and T. oceanicus differ in their preference functions (period tuned in T. oceanicus ; pulse duration tuned in T. commodus ;.…”

Dynamic dendritic compartmentalization underlies stimulus-specific adaptation in an insect neuron

“…This SSA takes place at rates that are one to two orders of magnitude faster than described in vertebrates; response suppression occurs in TN-1 at repetition rates Ͼ50 pps, whereas deviant pulses can have repetition rates as high as 7-10 pps (Schul and Sheridan 2006). This reflects the relevant auditory scene of these insects, with male calls having amplitude modulation rates up to 200 pps and rare predator (e.g., bat) signals in the range of 5-10 pps (Hartley and Suthers 1989;Schul et al 2014).…”

Investigating an adaptive radiation in temperate Neoconocephalus

“…Female call recognition changes qualitatively between sibling species (e.g. Bush et al 2009) and few genetic changes with high impact may be responsible for these changes (Schul et al 2014). In some species, a derived call trait has been established with females remaining in the ancestral state demonstrating that males may lead the divergence of the communication system and that female preferences are not necessarily the driving force (Barton & Charlesworth 1984).…”

“…In the Tettigoniid genus Neoconocephalus, a species-rich group with diverse acoustic communication Schul et al 2014), discontinuous calls have evolved twice independently from the ancestral continuous calls with several occurrences of reversals to continuous calling (see Chapter 2, Figure 1).…”