@article {47925, title = {Sound production in the cockroach,Gromphadorhina portentosa: The sound-producing apparatus}, journal = {Journal of Comparative Physiology ? A}, volume = {132}, year = {1979}, month = {Jan-01-1979}, pages = {27 - 38}, abstract = {

1. The giant Madagascar cockroach,Gromphadorhina portentosa, hisses by expelling air from a pair of specialized abdominal spiracles. The anatomy and innervation of serially homologous respiratory and sound-producing spiracles were compared in order to determine the evolutionary steps by which a new behavior has developed.

2. The trachea leading to the sound-producing (fourth) spiracle shows a constriction proximally; distally it is greatly elongated with a conical bore (Fig. 2). These features, which are lacking in other spiracles, are sufficient to account for the character of the sound (Fig. 10).

3. The motoneurons innervating both types of spiracles were located by axonal diffusion of cobalt, and their morphology was determined in wholemounted ganglia. The number, ganglionic locations, and in some cases branching patterns of motoneurons serving the sound-producing and respiratory spiracles were essentially identical (Figs. 4, 5, 6).

4. Physiological activity was recorded along spiracle nerves and within spiracle muscle fibers; four units were identified for each spiracle, agreeing with the number of cells located anatomically. These included, for each abdominal spiracle, an opener exciter motoneuron, two closer exciter motoneurons, and one closer inhibitor motoneuron (Figs. 7, 8).

5. During normal respiration the output of these 4 units had similar phase relationships in all abdominal spiracles which were examined; lower firing rates in the motoneurons innervating the hissing spiracles rendered these nonfunctional during normal respiration (Fig. 9).

6. The findings are consistent with conservation of motor innervation and of central pattern generators during evolution.

}, issn = {0340-7594}, doi = {10.1007/BF00617729}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00617729}, author = {Nelson, Margaret C.} } @article {47712, title = {Insect disturbance stridulation: Characterization of airborne and vibrational components of the sound}, journal = {Journal of Comparative Physiology ? A}, volume = {135}, year = {1980}, month = {Jan-01-1980}, pages = {259 - 268}, abstract = {

Some insects stridulate when attacked by a predator. This behavior has been interpreted as a defensive response, the sound being a warning to predators of the insect\&$\#$39;s noxiousness. Since to humans many such disturbance sounds are audibly similar, it is possible that they may in fact be mutually mimetic. This idea was investigated through analysis of the temporal and spectral characteristics of the disturbance sounds of a variety of insects that stridulate by a file- and -scraper device. Properties of both the airborne sound and the underlying cuticular vibration (detected by a special vibration measuring instrument) were examined, and four characteristic features found:

\ \ \  1. The temporal pattern is simple. Bursts of toothstrike impulses are about 80 ms long, and are separated by pauses about 90 ms long. Bursts occur at a rate of about 5 to 10/s.
\ \ \ \ 
\ \ \  2. The temporal pattern is irregular. For toothstrike interval, burst duration, pause duration and interburst interval, the standard deviation is usually \>30\% of the mean. Much of the irregularity is presumably caused by the insect struggling at the same time it stridulates. Some insects show less variability, and these appear to lack tight coupling between stridulatory movements and struggling movements, so struggling does not interfere with stridulation.
\ \ \ \ 
\ \ \  3. The airborne sound pressure waveform is impulsive. The frequency coverage of the sounds is quite broad with an average 10-dB bandwidth of about 40 kHz centered at 25 kHz. The sounds are not intense, ranging from about 10 to 60 dB (re 20\×10\−6 Pa) at 10 cm.
\ \ \ \ 
\ \ \  4. The cuticular vibration waveform is sharply peaked and contains maximum energy at a frequency determined by the tooth-strike rate, usually about 1 kHz. The average decrease in power above this frequency is about 12 dB/octave. The maximum peak-to-peak amplitude of cuticular motion is about 1 to 10 \μm.
\ \ \ \ 

These common characteristics may lead predators to treat insects producing disturbance sounds similarly, although this possibility should be tested empirically. If acoustic mimicry exists, the communicatory interchange between predator and prey may be subtler than is commonly appreciated.

Supported in part by an NSF predoctoral fellowship and Bache Fund stipend from the National Academy of Sciences (Masters), and NIH grant AI-02908 and NSF grant PCM77-25807 (T. Eisner). I thank the insect identification service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and E.R. Hoebeke for identification of insects. I am grateful to the Director and staff of the Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Florida, for their hospitality while I was there. To my chairman, Dr. Thomas Eisner, I wish to acknowledge my great debt for his original proposal that I study insect disturbance sounds and the suggestion that the sounds might be mutually mimetic, and for his unfailing support throughout my graduate career. I also thank Drs. Eisner, R.R. Capranica, D.J. Aneshansley, W.L. Brown and J. Camhi for helpful criticism of the manuscript, Drs. Capranica and G. Hausfater for loan of equipment, and Dr. A. George for discussions of acoustics. Finally, for invaluable help with all phases of this research, I thank my wife, Anne Moffat.

}, issn = {0340-7594}, doi = {10.1007/BF00657254}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00657254}, author = {Masters, W. Mitchell} } @article {17232, title = {Functional development of the auditory system of the cricket,Teleogryllus commodus}, journal = {Journal of Comparative Physiology ? A}, volume = {127}, year = {1978}, month = {Jan-06-1978}, pages = {131 - 138}, abstract = {

1. In Teleogryllus commodus and T . oceanicus, vibration of the tibia of the prothoracic leg at audio-frequencies stimulates auditory receptors in the tympanal organ, despite immobilization of the large tympanum by vaseline.

2.Responses of characteristic auditory interneurons in the adult cervical connective are similar whether stimulation is by sound or by vibration of the tibia (Figs. 3\–5).

3.Interneurons in second-last (A-2) and last (A-1) immature instars are stimulated by sound and by vibration of the tibia and we conclude that these interneurons are the same as those recorded in adults (Figs. 6, 7). Peripheral receptors and some interneurons in the immature auditory system are, therefore, physiologically competent.

4.At the imaginai moult, auditory threshold at the optimum frequency decreases dramatically (Fig. 8 A). This increase in sensitivity to sound is attributed mainly to the appearance of the auditory tympanum in the adult. There is a much smaller increase in sensitivity to vibration of the tibia at audio frequencies between last instar nymphs and adults (Fig. 8 B).

5.From the A-2 to adult stages of T. commodus, auditory receptors stimulated by sound show a peak sensitivity at 3.8 to 4.0 kHz (Fig. 8 A). Such tuning must be independent of vibration characteristics of the tympanum and of acoustic resonance characteristics depending on the dimensions of the leg trachea.

}, issn = {0340-7594}, doi = {10.1007/BF01352297}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF01352297}, author = {Eldon E. Ball and Hill, K. G.} } @article {17172, title = {Hind femora influence directionality of the locust ear}, journal = {Journal of Comparative Physiology ? A}, volume = {152}, year = {1983}, month = {Jan-01-1983}, pages = {509 - 516}, issn = {0340-7594}, doi = {10.1007/BF00606440}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00606440}, author = {Adam, L. J.} } @article {16471, title = {Effects of temperature on rates in poikilotherm nervous systems: Evidence from the calling songs of meadow katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae:Orchelimum) and reanalysis of published data}, journal = {Journal of Comparative Physiology ? A}, volume = {101}, year = {1975}, month = {Jan-01-1975}, pages = {57 - 69}, issn = {0340-7594}, doi = {10.1007/BF00660119}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00660119}, author = {Thomas J. Walker} }