@article {57668, title = {The neuroethology of acoustic startle and escape in flying insects}, year = {1989}, abstract = {

The acoustic startle/escape response is a phylogenetically widespread behavioral act, provoked by an intense, unexpected sound. At least six orders of insects have evolved tympanate ears that serve acoustic behavior that ranges from sexual communication to predator detection. Insects that fly at night are vulnerable to predation by insectivorous bats that detect and locate their prey by using biosonar signals. Of the six orders of insects that possess tympanate hearing organs, four contain species that fly at night and, in these, hearing is sensitive to a range of ultrasonic frequencies found in the biosonar signals of bats. Laboratory and field studies have shown that these insects (including some orthopterans, lepidopterans, neuropterans and dictyopterans), when engaged in flight behavior, respond to ultrasound by suddenly altering their flight, showing acoustic startle or negative phonotaxis, which serve as bat-avoidance behavior. A neural analysis of ultrasound-mediated escape behavior was undertaken in the field cricket Telegryllus oceanicus. An identified thoracic interneuron, int-1, was shown to trigger the escape response, but only when the cell was driven (synaptically or electrically) at high spike rates, and only when the insect was performing flight behavior; avoidance steering only occurs in the appropriate behavioral context: flight. Thus, significant constraints operate upon the ability of int-1 to trigger the escape response. The integration of auditory input and flight central pattern generator output occurs in the brain. It is found that neural activity descending from the brain in response to stimulation by ultrasound is increased when the insect is flying compared to when it is not. Although the behavioral act of avoidance steering may appear to be a simple reflex act, further analysis shows it to be anything but simple.

}, author = {Ronald R. Hoy and Nolen, Tom and Brodfuehrer, Peter} } @article {57634, title = {The ability of the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea to distinguish sounds in the vertical plane}, year = {2006}, abstract = {

The parasitic fly Ormia ochracea localizes its host, field crickets, by homing in on their calling song. Previous phonotactic studies indicate that their sound localization ability in azimuth is extraordinarily acute, but the fly\’s ability to localize the elevation of sound sources has not been tested to date. Here we show that in a freely-walking closed-loop Y-maze task elevational performance is well above chance, but slightly below the fly\’s performance in azimuth. Immobilizing the head or the halteres (sensory organs of balance) slightly lowered elevational discrimination, but performance was still well above chance. Because ormiine ears are thought to be symmetric and the pure-tone models of a cricket\’s call used in these experiments contained little to no spectral bandwidth, additional studies will be needed to elucidate the underlying cues. Nonetheless, it is clear that while walking, Ormia flies are capable of distinguishing sound sources that differ only in elevation.

}, doi = {10.1121/1.2225936}, url = {http://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/1.2225936}, author = {Arthur, Ben J. and Ronald R. Hoy} } @article {57601, title = {Auditory Sensitivity of an Acoustic Parasitoid (Emblemasoma sp., Sarcophagidae, Diptera) and the Calling Behavior of Potential Hosts}, journal = {Brain, Behavior and Evolution}, volume = {72}, year = {2008}, month = {Jan-01-2008}, pages = {16 - 26}, abstract = {

Using field broadcasts of model male calling songs, we tested whether Tibicen pruinosa and T. chloromera (Homoptera: Cicadidae) are candidate hosts for acoustic parasitoid flies. The model calling song of T. pruinosa attracted 90\% of the flies (Sarcophagidae: Emblemasoma sp.; all larvapositing females) when broadcast simultaneously with the model T. chloromera song, a phonotactic bias reconfirmed in single song playbacks. In paired broadcasts of model T. pruinosa songs with different relative amplitudes (3 dB or 6 dB), significantly more flies were attracted to the more powerful song, a result consistent with the responses predicted by a model proposed by Forrest and Raspet [1994]. Using intracellular recordings and dye injections, we characterized the sensitivity of auditory units in sound-trapped flies. Intracellular recordings from six auditory units (5 interneurons, 1 afferent) revealed best sensitivity for frequencies near 3-4 kHz, matching the predominant spectral components of the calling songs of both species of cicada. Interestingly, although flies could be attracted to T. pruinosa broadcasts throughout the day, hourly censuses of singing males revealed that calling occurred exclusively at dusk. Furthermore, the duration of the dusk chorus in T. pruinosa was significantly shorter than the midday chorus of the less attractive song of T. chloromera. We propose that the tight temporal aggregation of the dusk chorus time could function to reduce risk from attracted parasitoids.

}, keywords = {Chorus, Cicada, cricket, Diel Behavior, Emblemasoma, frequency tuning, interneuron, Ormia, parasitoid, phonotaxis, Tibicen}, issn = {0006-8977}, doi = {10.1159/000139458}, url = {https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/139458}, author = {Farris, H.E. and Oshinsky, M.L. and Forrest, T.G. and Ronald R. Hoy} } @article {52759, title = {The evolutionary convergence of hearing in a parasitoid fly and its cricket host}, journal = {Science}, volume = {258}, year = {1992}, month = {Jan-11-1993}, pages = {1135 - 1137}, abstract = {

Parasitism is a widespread and diverse life strategy that connects species throughout the animal kingdom. Female parasitoid flies of the genus Ormia must find a specific cricket host on which to deposit their parasitic maggots. To reproduce, female flies must perform the same task as female crickets: find a singing male cricket. These flies have evolved a unique hearing organ that allows them to detect and locate singing male crickets. Through evolutionary convergence, these flies possess a hearing organ that much more resembles a cricket\&$\#$39;s ear than a typical fly\&$\#$39;s ear, allowing these parasitoids to take advantage of the sensory ecological niche of their host.

}, issn = {0036-8075}, doi = {10.1126/science.1439820}, url = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.1439820https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1126/science.1439820}, author = {Daniel Robert and Amoroso, J and Ronald R. Hoy} } @article {15176, title = { Species-Recognition in the Field Cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus: Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms}, journal = {American Zoologist}, volume = {22}, year = {1982}, pages = {597-607}, chapter = {597}, abstract = {

Field crickets depend on acoustic organs to detect the presence of potential predators as well as conspecific crickets. Predators are recognized largely on the basis of spectral frequencies that are contained in their acoustic signals. Puffs of air and very low frequencies activate a cricket\&$\#$39;s cercal receptors and ultrasonic frequencies activate their tympanal organs. Both of these acoustic stimuli release \"escape behavior,\" in the form of evasive movements. An identified neuron sensitive to ultrasound is described. Crickets recognize singing conspecifics by both frequency and temporal properties of cricket songs; however species recognition requires specific temporal information in calling songs. While previous studies have emphasized the role of songs on female behavior, males also recognize conspecific songs; sexual differences in recognition behav

}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/3882581 }, author = {Ronald R. Hoy and Gerald S. Pollack and Andrew Moiseff} }