Abstract
Anaxipha (Saussure, 1874) are small, swordtail crickets found in much of eastern North America. Many species within the genus Anaxipha were only recently described and their calling songs characterized. However, little is known about their courtship songs or use of substrate-borne communication (drumming). This study is the first documentation of the existence of courtship songs and substrate-borne vibrational communication in the genus. Courtship songs and substrate-borne vibrational communication were first detected in the following species: Anaxipha exigua (Say, 1825), A. tinnulacita Walker & Funk, 2014, A. tinnulenta Walker & Funk, 2014, and A. thomasi Walker & Funk, 2014. When in the presence of a conspecific female, males of all four species perform courtship songs that are distinctly different in pattern of echeme delivery and syllable details compared to their respective calling songs. Additionally, males of all four species exhibited drumming behavior during courtship singing and variably during calling songs. Examination of video recordings of males drumming during courtship singing showed that they are apparently using the sclerotized portion of their mandibles to impact the substrate on which they are perched to create vibrations. Courtship song and drumming bout characteristics were statistically different among the four species studied here, although A. tinnulacita and A. tinnulenta were similar in some measurements. Drumming during calling songs was common only in A. tinnulacita, where drumming occurs predominately during the first forty percent and last twenty percent of the long echemes of calling songs. Additional study is needed to further explore the use of substrate-borne vibrational communication in this genus.
Highlights
Large numbers of species of small insects use substrate-borne vibrations for near-field communication with conspecifics (Caldwell 2014, Yack 2016)
No drumming events were detected for A. exigua in the nine major echemes of calling songs analyzed for this species
The use of courtship songs in other Gryllidae is well known (Alexander and Otte 1967), but little is known about the acoustic courtship behavior of the Trigonidiinae, with mating behavior reported in only a few species (Spooner 1972, Ingrisch 1977, Mendelson and Shaw 2002, Fergus et al 2011, Shaw and Khine 2004, Funk 2016, Centeno and Zefa 2019)
Summary
Large numbers of species of small insects use substrate-borne vibrations for near-field communication with conspecifics (Caldwell 2014, Yack 2016). Many of these species inhabit herbaceous and woody plants and use the plant’s stems and leaves to transmit these vibrational signals (Michelsen et al 1982, Eriksson et al 2011). Within the tangles of vegetation that these insects inhabit, the use of substrate-borne vibrations, in addition to acoustic signals, would be beneficial This would allow for orientation toward and finding of potential mates once the searcher is on, or close to, the stem or leaf from which the male is communicating (Hill 2001). The existence of courtship songs and drumming in the four Anaxipha species found in West Virginia are documented
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