The mechanics of stridulation of the cricketGryllus campestris

Koch, Uwe; Elliott, Christopher; Schäffner, Karl Heinz; Kleindienst, Hans Ulrich

doi:10.1007/bf00606086

Cited by 91 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…During stridulation, males scrape the plectrum of the left tegmen against the file (ventral side of the Cu2 vein) of the right tegmen and the impact rate of the plectrum on the teeth of the file determines the FQ of the acoustic signal produced, with each oscillation caused by a tooth impact (Prestwich & Walker 1981;Elliot & Koch 1985;Koch et al 1988). It has been suggested that this impact rate is regulated by the resonating properties of the tegmen (the file and plectrum act as an escapement mechanism) and that this rate is nearly constant during the sound-producing tegmen closure (clock-escapement model: Elliot & Koch 1985;Koch et al 1988;Bennet-Clark & Bailey 2002), therefore producing a consistent FQ. Koch et al (1988) and van Wyk & Ferguson (1995) showed that calling song FQ of both G. campestris and G. bimaculatus is significantly positively related to the calling temperature.…”

Section: Male Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been suggested that this impact rate is regulated by the resonating properties of the tegmen (the file and plectrum act as an escapement mechanism) and that this rate is nearly constant during the sound-producing tegmen closure (clock-escapement model: Elliot & Koch 1985;Koch et al 1988;Bennet-Clark & Bailey 2002), therefore producing a consistent FQ. Koch et al (1988) and van Wyk & Ferguson (1995) showed that calling song FQ of both G. campestris and G. bimaculatus is significantly positively related to the calling temperature. Since the shortening velocity and muscle power output of insect flight muscle is strongly dependent on temperature (Marden 1995;Chown & Nicolson 2004), low temperatures result in lower tooth impact rates and song FQ (e.g.…”

Section: Male Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prestwich & Walker 1981). This effect of temperature on calling song FQ is expected to be small (Koch et al 1988;van Wyk & Ferguson 1995) because the clock-escapement mechanism regulates the wing closing speed relatively well (Elliot & Koch 1985;Bennet-Clark & Bailey 2002). We argue that, similarly to the effect of temperature, a diminished force, resulting from muscle senescence, applied to the tegmina during stridulation is expected to yield only a small decrease in song FQ, as observed in this study and by Jacot et al (2007), explaining why male field cricket calling song changes in a predictable manner with age.…”

Section: Male Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Male field cricket song reflects age, allowing females to prefer young males

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sexual selection often involves female preference for males of a certain age, and a body of theory predicts preference for old males. We measured a comprehensive set of traits from the acoustic sexual display of male field crickets, Gryllus bimaculatus, and found that nearly all song traits changed predictably as males aged, involving a general slowing down of the wing movements during song production. Our female preference experiments indicated a strong and repeatable preference for the songs of young males, contradicting the existing literature, which argues that female crickets prefer older males on the basis of changes in song carrier frequency. Rather, female preference for young male song was determined by its high energetic quality. We develop the 'old flight muscle' hypothesis, arguing that age-related degradation of stridulatory muscle performance is likely to result in the observed changes with age. Secondary sexual characters may be subject to oxidative somatic degradation suggesting that, when males provide only sperm, females should prefer the sexual displays of young males. Our results support new modelling approaches and a growing body of empirical evidence suggesting that old males are not always preferred by females. Ó

show abstract

Section: Male Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Male Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Male Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Male field cricket song reflects age, allowing females to prefer young males

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Hence, the frequency at which the gear tooth engages and imparts force back to the pendulum is set by the pendulum itself (8). Cricket wings play the same role as the pendulum by determining the dominant or carrier frequency (CF) of the cricket's song (5,6), and the file and plectrum are the analogs of the gear and pallets parts of the escapement mechanism prompting the term "clockwork cricket" (5,7). In the absence of such an escapement mechanism, the CF of a cricket song would be variable, and their wings would be much less efficient at producing high amplitude mate attraction signals (2).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In field crickets, where the escapement system is best studied, the song CF changes very little with temperature (6). As the resonant frequency of the wings does not change with temperature, it was proposed that the plectrum cannot proceed along the file any faster despite the overall change in the speed of the wing-stroke (5,6). As a result, the song CF does not change, and crickets can produce high amplitude, pure-tone signals regardless of ambient temperature (6).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing resonator geometry to boost sound power decouples size and song frequency in a small insect

Mhatre

Montealegre‐Z

Balakrishnan

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite their small size, some insects, such as crickets, can produce high amplitude mating songs by rubbing their wings together. By exploiting structural resonance for sound radiation, crickets broadcast species-specific songs at a sharply tuned frequency. Such songs enhance the range of signal transmission, contain information about the signaler's quality, and allow mate choice. The production of pure tones requires elaborate structural mechanisms that control and sustain resonance at the species-specific frequency. Tree crickets differ sharply from this scheme. Although they use a resonant system to produce sound, tree crickets can produce high amplitude songs at different frequencies, varying by as much as an octave. Based on an investigation of the driving mechanism and the resonant system, using laser Doppler vibrometry and finite element modeling, we show that it is the distinctive geometry of the crickets' forewings (the resonant system) that is responsible for their capacity to vary frequency. The long, enlarged wings enable the production of high amplitude songs; however, as a mechanical consequence of the high aspect ratio, the resonant structures have multiple resonant modes that are similar in frequency. The drive produced by the singing apparatus cannot, therefore, be locked to a single frequency, and different resonant modes can easily be engaged, allowing individual males to vary the carrier frequency of their songs. Such flexibility in sound production, decoupling body size and song frequency, has important implications for conventional views of mate choice, and offers inspiration for the design of miniature, multifrequency, resonant acoustic radiators.bioacoustics | biological modelling | biomechanics | finite element analysis M ale crickets produce high amplitude calling songs to attract conspecific females (1, 2). The sounds are produced by stridulation, a rapid and controlled rubbing of forewings against each other. The plectrum, a sclerotized portion on the anal edge of one wing, is drawn across the file, a series of teeth on the underside of a vein, on the other wing (reviewed in ref.3). The stridulatory apparatus acts as a mechanical frequency-multiplying system, converting the slow wing-stroke rate (ca 30 Hz) of the insect into a sound of much higher frequency (e.g., 4.5 kHz in the field cricket Gryllus bimaculatus) (3, 4). Stridulation sets the wing into vibration, and if the frequency produced by the plectrum-file interaction (the tooth strike rate) matches the resonance frequency of the wings a higher amplitude pure-tone sound can be produced (2). The exact biophysical mechanisms enabling such sound radiation using soft structures many times smaller than the sound wavelength remain elusive.The mechanism that crickets use to match stridulatory frequency to resonant frequency is similar to a clockwork-like escapement system (5-7). In the field of horology, escapement mechanisms display different degrees of sophistication (8), one is even called the grasshopper escapement (9). The funda...

show abstract

Acoustic Signal Evolution: Biomechanics, Size, and Performance

Podos

Patek

2014

Animal Signaling and Function

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The mechanics of stridulation of the cricketGryllus campestris

Cited by 91 publications

References 19 publications

Male field cricket song reflects age, allowing females to prefer young males

Male field cricket song reflects age, allowing females to prefer young males

Changing resonator geometry to boost sound power decouples size and song frequency in a small insect

Acoustic Signal Evolution: Biomechanics, Size, and Performance

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About