Acoustic behaviour of both sexes of the speckled bush cricket Leptophyes punctatissima

As in other phaneropterine bush-crickets, both male and female Leptophyes punctatissima can stridulate. Stridulation in the female, which had previously been overlooked, occurs in response to the male call. The main frequency of the very brief chirps is around 40 kHz. The male is stimulated to chirp more frequently by receiving response chirps from the female. Unlike most Tettigoniidae the male moves toward the female and is thus dependant on her response signal. Communication can occur over distances of at least 5 m. Some structures involved in stridulation in the female differ from that described in other phaneropterines. The insects used in these experiments were all reared in the laboratory from wild-caught parents. Between forty and fifty different insects were used at various times for laboratory studies on the song, and four different males and three females were used on the field communication experiments. The sexes were kept separate from the moult to adult or for at least 10 days before experiments.