Summary
Male crickets with both cervical and abdominal connectives cut failed to sing spontaneously. If only the cervical connectives were cut, spontaneously produced songs appeared within a few days after the operation (Fig. 1). Analysis of the time sequences of the chirps and pulses clearly reveal calling songs (Fig. 2) as well as transitions to courtship and rivalry songs. It is therefore clear that the cricket can produce songs even in the absence of neural commands from the head ganglia.
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This work was supported in part by a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft grant to the team of Prof. Dr. Markl, Darmstadt.
We would like to thank Prof. Dr. F. Huber for helpful advice and discussions, and also for critically reading the manuscript. The work was started at the Zoological Institute, Köln, and continued at Darmstadt and Konstanz. Dr. Murdock's help in preparing the English manuscript is appreciated.
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Kutsch, W., Otto, D. Evidence for spontaneous song production independent of head ganglia inGryllus campestris L.. J. Comp. Physiol. 81, 115–119 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00693554
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00693554