Chamber music: an unusual Helmholtz resonator for song amplification in a Neotropical bush-cricket (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae)

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:2017
Autores:Jonsson, Brown, Sarria-S, Walker, Montealegre-Z
Journal:The Journal of Experimental Biology
Volumen:220
Incidencia:16
Pagination:2900 - 2907
Date Published:Sep-15-20172153
ISSN:0022-0949
Palabras clave:acoustic resonator, bioacoustics, bush-cricket, finite element modelling, laser Doppler vibrometry, micro computed tomography
Resumen:

Animals use sound for communication, with high-amplitude signals being selected for attracting mates or deterring rivals. High amplitudes are attained by employing primary resonators in sound producing structures to amplify the signal (e.g., avian syrinx). Some species actively exploit acoustic properties of natural structures to enhance signal transmission by using these as secondary resonators (e.g., tree-hole frogs). Male bush-crickets produce sound by tegminal stridulation and often use specialised wing areas as primary resonators. Interestingly, Acanthacara acuta, a Neotropical bush-cricket, exhibits an unusual pronotal inflation, forming a chamber covering the wings. It has been suggested that such pronotal chambers enhance amplitude and tuning of the signal by constituting a (secondary) Helmholtz resonator. If true, the intact system – when stimulated sympathetically with broadband sound – should show clear resonance around the song carrier frequency which should be largely independent of pronotum material, and change when the system is destroyed. Using laser Doppler vibrometry on living and preserved specimens, micro computed tomography, 3D printed models, and finite element modelling, we show that the pronotal chamber not only functions as a Helmholtz resonator due to its intact morphology but also resonates at frequencies of the calling song on itself, making song production a three-resonator system.

URL:http://jeb.biologists.org/lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.160234
DOI:10.1242/jeb.160234
Short Title:J Exp Biol
BioAcoustica ID: 
Taxonomic name: 
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith