Pair-forming acoustic systems of phaneropterine katydids (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae)

Acoustic signalling during pair formation is more complex in Phaneropterinae than in any other Ensifera. Lone males of most species produce more than one kind of sound, and females of all species studied produce sound during pair formation, a phenomenon with no known parallel in other Ensifera.

This report includes (1) an analysis of the singing behaviours and the descriptions of sounds of nine species of Phaneropterinae and (2) the results of numerous experiments with these species to determine the behavioural significance of their sounds. Three kinds of male-female acoustic systems occur in the species studied: (1) the male makes a particular sound, the female answers with a tick and the male goes all the way to the female, (2) the male makes one kind of sound which attracts females from a distance (but not at close-range), the male makes a second sound which the female answers with a tick and the male goes to the female from close-range, and (3) the male makes one kind of sound, the female answers with a tick, the male moves towards the female from a distance (but not all the way), and the male produces a second kind of sound which attracts the female the remaining distance. Some species produce stereotyped sequences of different kinds of sounds; different responses occur to different sounds in the sequences.