Co-Evolution of Sound-Production and Hearing in Insects

Abstract

For efficient acoustic communication precise concordance between the properties of sound signals of emitters and those of the auditory system of receivers is necessary. An extremely important parameter, the communication range, directly depends on it. So, for any species this concordance is highly “desirable”. Sound-producing and sound-receiving systems have different morphological substrate, are controlled by different genes and matching between them is established by natural selection as the result of a complicated game of different selection forces fitting the animal as a whole to definite environment. The degree of concordance between hearing and sound production vary greatly in different animals and is dependent on the presence or absence of forces working against it.