The loud calling song, a common Mediterranean sound in hot, sunny weather, is a long series of click-like syllables, sometimes repeated fairly regularly at the rate of about 5-7/s, or, if less regularly, usually with a mean repetition rate within this range. Depending partly on temperature, the mean repetition rate is occassionally as low as 2/s or as high as 10/s. The interval between successive syllables is usually within the range 0.1-0.4s, but is sometimes under 0.1s and occassionally as long as 1s a little more. The song continues for indefinite periods, often of many minutes.
Oscillographic analysis shows thatnearly all (occassionally all) the sound is produced by the closing stroke of the fore wings, each closing hemisyllable lasting about 6-10 ms. The song is resonant, the audible sound produced being an almost pure tone of about 8-9 kHz (see Fig. 257). [1]
References
- . The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.