Life Sciences Commons^™

Female Preferences For Male Calling Songs In The Bladder Grasshopper Bullacris Membracioides, Vanessa C. K. Couldridge, Moira J. Van Staaden

Moira J. van Staaden

Male acoustic signals and the information they convey are often critical determinants of female mate choice. Bladder grasshoppers are one of numerous orthopteran taxa utilizing sound as the basis of courtship and ultimately mating. However, despite the extreme specializations for long-distance acoustic communication in this family, female mating preferences for male calls have not been previously investigated. Here we examine female acoustic responses to playbacks of male calls in Bullacris membracioides. Females were tested in three separate contexts, viz. response to conspecific calls of different individuals, response to degraded conspecific calls, and response to the calls of two heterospecifics. Female …