Male Cicadas Research Articles

Age-Related Plasticity Integration in Male Cicadas Tettigetta isshikii: Are Adult Cicadas Capital Breeders?

Labile traits, such as behavioural, physiological traits or body mass, vary within an individual either over time or across environments. Such changes within an individual can be linked across traits, forming within-individual trait correlations. These correlations are particularly expected when ageing causes changes in the expression of multiple traits. Moreover, the direction of these correlations depends on mechanisms that explain age-related changes in each trait, such as physiological deterioration or changes in future fitness expectations. Therefore, assessing within-individual trait correlations offers insights into trait-specific ageing patterns, their integration and age-related reproductive strategies. Here, we tracked individual male cicadas (Tettigetta isshikii) in their natural habitat, repeatedly assessing their plant use (narrow-leafed vs. large-leafed plants), calling activity and body mass. The results revealed that male cicadas lost mass, increased calling activity and a preference for narrow-leafed plants as they aged. This integration of age-related plasticity led to negative within-individual correlations between body mass and behaviours. Considering that adult cicadas consume nutritionally poor xylem sap, the negative within-individual correlations between body mass and risk-taking behaviour suggest that T. isshikii males follow a capital breeding strategy rather than an income breeding strategy. As adult cicadas may use up the energy stored during the nymph stage, an age-related increase in energetically demanding calling activity could cause an age-related decrease in body mass. The terminal investment hypothesis could also explain the age-related increase in calling activity and the preference for narrow-leafed plants. Therefore, we emphasise the importance of individual-level tracking studies in the wild to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the life-history strategies and behavioural ecology of a study animal.

To Catch a Cicada

This paper examines the role of tacit knowledge and embodied sonic skills involved in catching cicadas (Cicadoidea Latreille in the order Hemiptera) for scientific study in Australia. Cicada researchers rely on identifying the unique “call patterns” of male cicadas to locate populations and track individuals to net. Drawing on an ethnographic study of the authors’ own practices as cicada researchers, we demonstrate that cicada-catching involves tacit and embodied skills that are mastered in a community of practice that has a local epistemology centred on sonic skills for the multimodal production of knowledge. Through analysing their own cicada-hunting fieldwork, the authors demonstrate how sonic skills, as a form of active embodied knowing, enable the production of scientific knowledge.

Difference in the responses of male cicada Meimuna opalifera to the two parts of conspecific calling song

AbstractMeimuna opalifera males emit extremely complex calling songs, with the main section comprising two parts. To investigate whether these two parts of the calling song have different meanings for the receivers, we conducted playback experiments. We counted and compared the number of response calls when different types of sound stimuli were presented under laboratory conditions. Meimuna opalifera males emitted significantly greater response calls during the playback of stimuli containing the former part of the songs than those containing the latter part only. This suggests that M. opalifera males tend to respond by detecting characteristics in the former part of the songs. Because the peak frequencies were similar between the former and the latter parts, the temporal patterns of the songs might be important in short‐range communication between males of M. opalifera.

#SideHustle: Jason G. H. Londt’s contribution to holdings of the South African Cicadidae (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha) in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum

Jason G.H. Londt contributed almost a quarter of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum’s specimens of Cicadidae, including a strong sample of females, and probably the best set to date of African records of predation on cicadas by robber flies. The collection provides evidence that robber flies catch more male cicadas; speculatively, because attacks on the heavier-bodied female fail more often. The metadata derived from these specimens also provide a small gazetteer of Londt’s collecting sites.

A Multi-year Adult Emergence Study of the Cicada Neotibicen canicularis (Harris) (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in Wisconsin

Based on daily collections of final instar exuviae, the widespread annual cicada adult emergence of Neotibicen canicularis (Harris) (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) was studied in southeastern Wisconsin in a combined plot containing 15 mature trees and suburban lawns for seven successive years and in a separate plot of two trees for four years. The daily numbers of males and females were recorded. Over the entire seven years of the 15-tree plot, total female and male exuviae were equal, a summative 50:50 ratio. However, there was considerable deviation from this ratio three of the seven years. More females than males eclosed in the first two years and more males eclosed in the final year, yet the overall trend was for females to eclose later than males for the entire seven-year study of the 15-tree plot, with many more females emerging in the last twenty plus days. Although ambient temperatures varied over the study (cooler in the first two years and warmer later), they did not have any discernible effect on the timing of female and male eclosions. The overall annual emergence period was 56.7 (se 4.48) d for a seven-year total of 2967 exuviae, with the annual average emergence being 437.6 (se 34.6) per year. The average density of exuviae, an estimate of the emerging adult population, was 1.3 ± 0.09 (se) per m2. In the separate two-tree plot, a greater number of males emerged than females for all four years. ARISTOTLE ADVISES: “Male cicadas are tastier when young, but the females are preferable later when they are full of eggs.”

First Report of Necrophilia in the Form of Necrocoitus among Insects, Involving Two Male Cryptotympana atrata (Fabricius, 1775) Cicadas.

Simple SummaryIt has been reported that members from all vertebrate classes occasionally attempt copulations with dead male or female individuals, but until now no reliable report exists that insects too may show such necrophilic behaviour. We observed and described how a male cicada from Jinxiu town in southern China repeatedly tried to mate with a dead male conspecific. There are several ways to explain this unusual behaviour, but we believe that possibly a lack of females, the somewhat larger than normal size of the dead male individual and the latter’s passivity have been involved. This is the first report of a male insect mounting a dead male and attempting to copulate with it.The unusual case of a male Cryptotympana atrata cicada from China attempting to mate with a dead male conspecific is described and illustrated. Although hitherto unreported, necrophilic behaviour in the form of an attempted necrocoitus, involving dead male or female corpses, may not be as isolated a case as has been previously assumed, but it does not seem to have been mentioned earlier in the entomological literature. Although the described behaviour could have been an expression of a lack of opportunity to locate a cooperative female, several other possibilities, referred to in the Discussion, exist and should not be dismissed.

Could Fidicina mannifera (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Fidicinini) promote a resource pulse in two Brazilian Cerrado vegetation classes?

Cicadas are usually studied regarding their importance in agriculture. However, the possibility of this group to represent a pulse of nutrients can also imply on the success of a given species in the biome. The aim of this study was to assess the level of total soluble proteins and lipids of Fidicina mannifera (Fabricius, 1803), and to determine whether the species can promote a pulse of nutrients in two vegetation classes of the Brazilian Cerrado. To assess the pulse of nutrients, it was concluded the determination of total soluble proteins and lipids from samples of males and adult females of F. mannifera, and the spatial distribution of exuviae of this species was also calculated in two vegetation classes of the Brazilian Cerrado. The amount of protein provided by each individual did not differ between males and females (p = 0.66) but females had 40% more lipids than males (p = 0.05). Regarding F. mannifera the gallery forest offered 11.75 g/ha of protein, 3.91 g/ha of lipids, and the Cerrado stricto sensu offered 4.25 g/ha of protein, and 1.41 g/ha of lipid. The male cicadas have a hollow abdomen, which houses a resonance chamber for sound production in order to attract females to mate, and females store larger amounts of lipids, mainly located in the abdominal cavity, where the body fat is directly linked to the reproductive system for the development of the ovaries and egg production after emergence. The mass occurrence of F. mannifera in the Brazilian Cerrado and the fast availability of proteins and lipids make this species a food resource that can directly impact the diet of secondary consumers and scavengers, although the amount of nutrients available by F. mannifera does not promote a pulse of nutrients in the study site.

Luring

Bulbert and Wignall introduce the ways animals lure their prey.

Calling song structure of Cicada orni Linnaeus (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in Iran: A comparative study with other areas

Cicada orni Linnaeus, 1758 is an abundant and common cicada across Europe, North Africa, and western Asia including Iran. The male cicada produces a loud calling song for attraction of females from a long distance. The calling songs are known often to be species-specific and to function in part for species recognition. The present study compares variations in calling song of C. orni in Iran with those reported from other areas and also signifies the importance of calling song in species identification. C. orni were collected in Mazandaran, Iran during summer 2010. Four features were used: echeme duration, echeme period, interecheme interval, number of echeme/s and dominant frequency. Findings of present study showed some resemblance in time and frequency domains in the calling song among the populations of C. orni from Iran and those investigated in Greece, Iberian Peninsula and Turkey. The parameters of calling song showed maximal resemblance with species of Kosmas (Greece). The present results do not support C. orni from Iran as an independent subspecies. Thus, it is concluded that every feature of calling song can be effective in species recognition as is the case for several other parameters.

Forest as Place in the Album "Canopy": Culturalising Nature or Naturalising Culture?

Forest as Place in the Album "Canopy": Culturalising Nature or Naturalising Culture?

Intraspecific sexual mimicry for finding females in a cicada: males produce ‘female sounds’ to gain reproductive benefit

In insects various ways to produce sounds have evolved for communication both within and between species. Cicada males are particularly known for their loud and diverse songs which are produced by tymbal organs. Females of some cicada species can produce sounds by wing flicking in response to male calls. The cicada species Subpsaltria yangi is unusual in that, besides the tymbal organs of males, it has well-developed stridulatory organs that are found in both sexes. Here, we investigated sound production and mating behaviour of this cicada species. We show that, in the context of pair formation, females produced sound signals by stridulation in response to advertisement signals produced by males with tymbal organs. We also found that the sounds produced by male cicadas with stridulatory organs were extremely similar in acoustic structure to those of females, which indicates that males mimic the signals produced by females during pair formation. Acoustic playback experiments suggested that, by producing female-like sound signals, a male could deceive a receptive female into treating him as a rival female, which makes the male more effective in eliciting acoustic responses from the receptive female. Therefore, the males could gain reproductive benefit by mimicking female sound signals, since they rely primarily on females' acoustic responses to find females. Our study provides the first experimental evidence for sound production by a stridulatory mechanism in cicadas, and a novel case of intraspecific sexual mimicry based on acoustic similarity. • We investigated the acoustic behaviour of the cicada Subpsaltria yangi . • Males can produce sounds by tymbal and stridulatory mechanisms. • Females are able to produce sounds by a stridulatory mechanism. • Males mimic sound signals of females to gain reproductive benefit. • We provide a novel case of intraspecific sexual mimicry based on acoustic similarity.

External morphology and calling song characteristics in Tibicen plebejus (Hemiptera: Cicadidae)

Tibicen plebejus is the largest cicada native to the ecosystem in northern Iran. The male cicada produces a loud calling song for attracting females from a long distance. It is presumed that the female selects a mate based on a combination of passive and active mechanisms, but it is not known if she selects for size, nor if the male's size correlates with any characteristic of the advertisement call. In this study, we report the relationship between calling song features and morphological characters in the male of T. plebejus. Research was conducted in northern Iran during the summer of 2010. Seventeen males were collected and their calling songs were recorded in a natural environment. Two morphological characters were measured: length and weight. Maximum, minimum and average of values of 10 key acoustic variables of the calling song were analyzed: phrase duration, phrase part 1, phrase part 2, number of phrases per minute, echeme duration, echeme period, interecheme interval, number of echeme per second, echeme/intereheme ratio, and dominant frequency. The data were tested for the level of association between morphology and acoustic variables using simple linear regression. In conclusion, in terms of song structure, three significant positive correlations existed between length and (1) mean echeme duration, (2) mean echeme/interecheme ratio, (3) maximum echeme/interecheme ratio. We found out also four significant negative correlations between both length and weight with (1) minimum interecheme intervals, (2) mean dominant frequency, (3) minimum dominant frequency, (4) maximum dominant frequency, and between weight and (1) minimum interecheme intervals, (2) mean dominant frequency, (3) minimum dominant frequency, (4) maximum dominant frequency. It can be found that larger males of T. plebejus produce songs of lower frequency and are less silent between echemes.

NONLINEARITY IN CICADA SOUND SIGNALS

The nonlinearity of acoustic signals produced by male cicadas and their propagation in the atmosphere using the theory of dynamical systems and partial differential equations are explored in this paper. Previous research using a Volterra equation has shown that the signal data from the vibrations of cicada tymbals and that from the recordings of the acoustic signals about 5 inches away from the cicada exhibit some nonlinear characteristics. The experimental results shown in this paper confirm the nonlinearity of the signals farther from the cicada. A number of nonlinear acoustic signal propagation models are discussed — among them the Burgers' equation which has been implemented and whose results are quite promising.

Deposition and decomposition of periodical cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae:Magicicada) in woodland aquatic ecosystems

Many freshwater ecosystems receive allochthonous resource subsidies from adjacent terrestrial environments. In eastern North American forests, geographic broods of periodical cicadas emerge every 13 to 17 y to breed, and local abundances can sometimes be >300 individuals/m2. Most individuals avoid predation, senesce after breeding, and become a resource pulse for forest ecosystems; some cicada carcasses enter freshwater ecosystems where they represent a detrital resource pulse. Here, we present a 2-part study in which we examined the deposition of cicada detritus into woodland ponds and low-order streams in southwestern Ohio during the emergence of Brood X periodical cicadas. We compared the deposition of nutrients associated with periodical cicada detritus and terrestrial leaf litter into small woodland ponds and low-order streams. We used a laboratory experiment to compare patterns of decomposition and nutrient release of adult periodical cicada carcasses and sycamore leaf litter. Input of periodical cicada detritus to woodland streams and ponds was a function of local cicada emergence densities. Organic C loading to woodland aquatic ecosystems from cicada detritus was substantially less than that from terrestrial leaf litter; however, the higher mass-specific N and P content of cicada material made cicada detritus a relatively important nutrient input. N and P deposited in cicada detritus represented 0.2 to 61% of the N and 0.3 to 50% of the P deposited into woodland aquatic ecosystems via terrestrial leaf litter. Decomposition experiments indicated that cicada detritus was of much higher quality than was sycamore leaf litter; female and male cicada carcasses lost mass at significantly faster rates than sycamore leaves (female k = −0.05/d, male k = −0.04/d, sycamore leaf k = −0.002/d). Release rates of C, N, and P from cicada carcasses were 4, 39, and 150× greater, respectively, than release rates from sycamore leaves. Our study indicates that periodical cicada detritus can represent a substantial allochthonous resource pulse to forested aquatic ecosystems and that cicada detritus is of substantially higher quality than is terrestrial leaf litter. These results suggest that deposition and decomposition of periodical cicada detritus can affect the productivity and dynamics of woodland aquatic ecosystems and that the role of animal-derived resource pulses to ecosystems requires further exploration.

Versatile Aggressive Mimicry of Cicadas by an Australian Predatory Katydid

BackgroundIn aggressive mimicry, a predator or parasite imitates a signal of another species in order to exploit the recipient of the signal. Some of the most remarkable examples of aggressive mimicry involve exploitation of a complex signal-response system by an unrelated predator species.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe have found that predatory Chlorobalius leucoviridis katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) can attract male cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) by imitating the species-specific wing-flick replies of sexually receptive female cicadas. This aggressive mimicry is accomplished both acoustically, with tegminal clicks, and visually, with synchronized body jerks. Remarkably, the katydids respond effectively to a variety of complex, species-specific Cicadettini songs, including songs of many cicada species that the predator has never encountered.Conclusions/SignificanceWe propose that the versatility of aggressive mimicry in C. leucoviridis is accomplished by exploiting general design elements common to the songs of many acoustically signaling insects that use duets in pair-formation. Consideration of the mechanism of versatile mimicry in C. leucoviridis may illuminate processes driving the evolution of insect acoustic signals, which play a central role in reproductive isolation of populations and the formation of species.

The Study and Analysis of the Mating Behavior and Sound Production of Male Cicada Psalmocharias alhageos (Kol.) (Homoptera:Cicadidae) to Make Disruption in Mating

Psalmocharias alhageos is an important pest of vine in most parts of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, southern areas of Russia, Turkey and Iraq. This cicada is spread in most provinces in Iran such as Esfahan, Hamedan, Qazvin, Markazi, Lorestan, Qom, Kerman, Tehran and Kordestan. In addition to vine, this insect damages some other fruit trees, such as apple, sour cherry, quince, peach, pomegranate and pear trees and some non-fruit trees, namely white poplar, ash, elm, eglantine, silk and black poplar trees. The nymphs of cicada damage the trees by feeding on root, adult insects on young bud and by oviposition under branch barks. Nourishing root by nymph leads to the weakness of the tree and hinder its growth. The high density oviposition of adult insects inside young barks causes withering of branches. The resulted damage on vine products is 40% which is one of the most important factors in product reduction in vineyard. This research was conducted in Takestan in Qazvin. It was conducted for the first time to study the behaviors of the mates of this vine cicada in order to manage it. Two systems were used to record the sound of male cicada called analog voice-recorder and digital voice recorder. To analyze the recorded sound of the male cicada we used of spectrum analyzer, digital storage oscilloscope and protens 7 computer softwares. We could call the attention of natural enemies an disturb the male insect's attracting sound by producing natural and artificial sound in the range of 1-6 kHz in two different ripeness status of the fruits and could prevent mating and oviposition of female cicadas.

The Last Kiss

This short story depicts the final musings and fits of delirium of an old man dying of kidney failure. The sexual rapture of male cicadas outside his window gives rise to his own final rapture following his unexpected reception of his last kiss.

The Last Kiss

This short story depicts the final musings and fits of delirium of an old man dying of kidney failure. The sexual rapture of male cicadas outside his window gives rise to his own final rapture following his unexpected reception of his last kiss.

Tuning the drum: the mechanical basis for frequency discrimination in a Mediterranean cicada

Cicadas are known to use sound to find a mate. While the mechanism employed by male cicadas to generate loud calling songs has been described in detail, little information exists to explain how their ears work. Using microscanning laser Doppler vibrometry, the tympanal vibrations in the cicada Cicadatra atra are measured in response to acoustic playbacks. The topographically accurate optical measurements reveal the vibrational behaviour of the anatomically complex tympanal membrane. Notably, the tympanal ridge, a distinct structural element of the tympanum that is a link to the receptor cells, undergoes mechanical vibrations reminiscent of a travelling wave. In effect, the frequency for which the maximum deflection amplitude is observed regularly decreases from the apex to the base of the ridge. It is also shown that whilst female ears are mechanically tuned to the male's song, the male's tympanum is only partially tuned to its own song. This study establishes the presence of a peripheral auditory mechanism that can potentially process auditory frequency analysis. In view of the importance of acoustic signalling in cicadas, this unconventional tympanal mechanism may be employed in the context of species recognition and sexual selection.

What the buzz was all about: superfast song muscles rattle the tymbals of male periodical cicadas

Male cicadas produce mating calls by oscillating a pair of superfast tymbal muscles in their anterior abdominal cavity that pull on and buckle stiff-ribbed cuticular tymbal membranes located beneath the folded wings. The functional anatomy and rattling of the tymbal organ in 17 yr periodical cicada, Magicicada cassini (Brood X), were revealed by high-resolution microcomputed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, electron microscopy, and laser vibrometry to understand the mechanism of sound production in these insects. Each 50 Hz muscle contraction yielded five to six stages of rib buckling in the tymbal, and a small release of muscle tension resulted in a rapid recovery due to the spring-loaded nature of the stiff ribs in the resilin-rich tymbal. The tymbal muscle sarcomeres have thick and thin filaments that are 30% shorter than those in flight muscles, with Z-bands that were thicker and configured into novel perforated hexagonal lattices. Caffeine-treated fibers supercontracted by allowing thick filaments to traverse the Z-band through its open lattice. This superfast sonic muscle illustrates design features, especially the matching hexagonal symmetry of the myofilaments and the perforated Z-band that contribute to high-speed contractions, long endurance, and potentially supercontraction needed for producing enduring mating songs and choruses.