Aiolopus thalassinus
(i) Pair Formation
Pairs are formed through visual means at least part of the time, i.e. males observe and approach moving females. No flight displays or stridulations were observed in solitary males. The species also possesses clear hind wings, suggesting that it does not possess a flight display (see Section V). No crepitation or flight displays have been observed in European A. thalassinus (Jacobs 1953).
(ii) Courtship
Males produce femur-tipping and ordinary stridulation while approaching females; during three approaches males only stridulated, and during three other approaches they only tipped their femora. The upstroke of tipping is about twice as fast as the downstroke. The repetition rate of tipping varied from 1a2 to 1a6 per sec.
Courtship in European A. thalassinus is somewhat different; both femur-tipping and ordinary stridulation are performed, but with the addition of ticking movements, in which left and right legs alternate regularly in producing successive ticks. Tipping in the two subspecies also differs; in the Australian A. t. tamulus the upstroke is more rapid than the downstroke, whereas the reverse is true in the European A. t. thalassinus.
(iii) Agonistic Behaviour
Femur-tipping and silent repetitive shaking are performed in agonistic contexts. No difference from courtship tipping could be detected. [1]
Viittaukset
- . Communicative aspects of reproductive behaviour in Australian grasshoppers (Oedipodinae and Gomphocerinae). Australian Journal of Zoology. 1972;20(2):139. Available at: http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=ZO9720139.