The effects of temperature and age on calling song in a field cricket with a complex calling song,Teleogryllus oceanicus(Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

Abstract

We examined the effects of temperature and age on calling song in the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus. Teleogryllus oceanicus has a complex calling song made up of two different kinds of chirp, long and short. The long chirp is made up of three to eight single pulses of sound and the short chirp consists of several paired pulses. The properties of T. oceanicus calling song did not vary with age, but almost every property of the song varied with temperature. Pulse duration, interpulse interval, and pulse rate in both the long and the short chirp varied with temperature. The number of pulses in the long chirp, number of chirps in the short chirp, chirp rate in the short chirp, duration of the long chirp, carrier frequency of both the short and long chirps, and total song duration were also affected by temperature. The duration of the short chirp and the degree of frequency modulation were the only characteristics that did not vary with temperature. Temperature does not affect the properties of the long and short chirps in the same manner. The long chirp decreases in duration with temperature and has fewer pulses, while the short chirp stays the same in duration and contains a higher number of chirps. These data demonstrate that temperature influences calling-song parameters in a field cricket with a complex calling song.