Auditory response and intrinsic link with sound-production in singing male cicada

Abstract

In the black cicada (C. atrata Fabricius), the quiescent males are sensitive to stimulating sound-pulses of about 70 dB (SPL); the latent periods and amplitudes of compound action potentials of the auditory nerve (called "auditory nerve potential (AP)" for short) which are corresponding one by one to stimulating sound-pulses are (3.92 +/-0.28) ms and (0.32+/-0.22) mV on an average, respectively. Although the singing males are nonreactive to outside stimulating sound-pulses, they are still sensitive to calling pulses mingling in stimulating sound-pulses; the latent periods and amplitudes of auditory nerve potentials are (4.16 +/- 0.43) ms and (0.46 +/- 0.25) mV, respectively. In singing males the negative potential before each auditory nerve potential characterizes that the intrinsic link exists between sounding and auditory nerve system.