Polysarcus scutatus
The calling song of the male, often produced in prolonged bursts of up to a minute or more, is composed of two different kinds of sound, one quieter and one louder. The quieter sound consists of a long sequence of identical echemes following one another in quick succession of about 1-2/s., and often showing a gradual slight increase in loudness. Each echeme is is composed of about 12-30 syllables repeated at a rate of about 35-40/s and ends in a rather longer and louder syllable and a final 'click'. Each syllable in the main part of the echeme lastas about 12-20 ms and tehfinal one, including the click, lasts about 50-80ms; there is teh a breif pause of about 50-100ms before teh next echeme begins. The whole echeme, from the beginning to the click, lasts about 0.5-1.0s.
The louder sound is an echeme of very variable duration (between 1 and 17 s in the songs studied), composed of syllables similar in duration to the quieter ones but repeated at the rate of 45-55/s, and usually ending in a series of about 5-8 microsyllables. This louder echeme is usually preceded and followed by quieter echeme-sequences (as in Fig. 177), but occassionally it is produced quite separately.
As in P. denticulata all the syllables seem to be closing hemisyllables, teh opening strokes of the fore wings produce little or no sound. [1]
References
- . The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.