Vibrations of the Substrate and Stridulation in a Grasshopper

Abstract

OBSERVATIONS made during experiments to determine the behaviour associated with stridulation in Chorthippus parallelus (Zett.) (Orthoptera, Acrididae) suggested that, in certain cases, females the tympanal organs of which had been destroyed were reacting to vibrations of the substrate caused by the act of stridulation in the male. Since it has been shown by Autrum1 that Orthopteroid insects possess a receptor, the so-called sub-genual organ, which is sensitive to vibration, it was thought that preliminary experiments to determine whether a stridulating insect does produce any measurable vibration of the substrate would be of interest.