Aggression in male conocephaline grasshoppers (tettigoniidae)

Fighting occurs under field and laboratory conditions between conspecific males of the long horn grasshoppers O. gladiator, O. vulgare and C. nigropleurum. Approaches of 90 to 180 cm by Orchelimum males culminated in venter-to-venter grappling. Such fights usually ended in the silent withdrawal of one combatant, while the other initiated steady song from the encounter site. Only singing males were approached. Stridulation appears both to trigger the approach and to serve as a navigational aid during its excution. An area is maintained around dominating males that is free of conspecific signers.