Acoustic Orientation and Communication in Desert Tenebrionid Beetles in Sand Dunes

Abstract

AbstractAcoustic orientation and communication were studied in five species of tenebrionid beetles found in the Namib Desert in Namibia. The thresholds of their sense of vibration were studied in behavioural experiments. High sensitivity to substrate sound was found in those species restricted to living in sand dunes. Wind blowing over the surface of the sand was found to induce substrate noise perceivable to beetles buried in the sand. One species studied responded to this noise by coming to the surface. Detritus, a major food source, is freed from the sand by wind and concentrated at dune slipfaces. The noise generated by the wind is an important signal to the buried beetles that food is available. It is possible for beetles on the surface of the sand to perceive noises made by buried conspecifics and for buried beetles to perceive others walking on the sand surface.