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Abstract

The auditory sensory system of the taxon Hetrodinae has not been studied previously. Males of the African armoured ground cricket, Acanthoplus longipes (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Hetrodinae) produce a calling song that lasts for minutes and consists of verses with two pulses. About three impulses are in the first pulse and about five impulses are in the second pulse. In contrast, the disturbance stridulation consists of verses with about 14 impulses that are not separated in pulses. Furthermore, the inter-impulse intervals of both types of sounds are different, whereas verses have similar durations. This indicates that the neuronal networks for sound generation are not identical. The frequency spectrum peaks at about 15 kHz in both types of sounds, whereas the hearing threshold has the greatest sensitivity between 4 and 10 kHz. The auditory afferents project into the prothoracic ganglion. The foreleg contains about 27 sensory neurons in the crista acustica; the midleg has 18 sensory neurons, and the hindleg has 14. The auditory system is similar to those of other Tettigoniidae.

Keywords: Calling song, courtship behaviour, disturbance sound, hearing system, scolopidial organ, sensory physiology

Correspondence: ^aKerstin.Kowalski@physzool.bio.uni-giessen.de, ^b*Reinhard.Lakes-Harlan@uni-giessen.de *Corresponding author
Associate Editor: David Morton was editor of this paper.

Received: 10 October 2008 | Accepted: 29 June 2009 | Published: 10 June 2010

Copyright: This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.  

ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 10, Number 59

Kowalski K, Lakes-Harlan R. 2010. Sounds, behaviour, and auditory receptors of the armoured ground cricket, Acanthoplus longipes. Journal of Insect Science 10:59, available online: insectscience.org/10.59