Abstract
Small Auchenorrhyncha use substrate-borne vibrations to communicate. Although this behaviour is well known in adult leafhoppers, so far no studies have been published on nymphs. Here we checked the occurrence of vibrational communication in Scaphoideus titanus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) nymphs as a possible explanation of their aggregative distributions on host plants. We studied possible vibratory emissions of isolated and grouped nymphs, as well as their behavioural responses to vibration stimuli that simulated presence of conspecifics, to disturbance noise, white noise and predator spiders. None of our synthetic stimuli or pre-recorded substrate vibrations from nymphs elicited specific vibration responses and only those due to grooming or mechanical contacts of the insect with the leaf were recorded. Thus, S. titanus nymphs showed to not use species-specific vibrations neither for intra- nor interspecific communication and also did not produce alarm vibrations when facing potential predators. We conclude that their aggregative behaviour is independent from a vibrational communication.
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Acknowledgements
Dr. Gino Angeli (IASMA Centre for Technology Transfer, Fondazione Edmund Mach) is acknowledged for the identification of the spiders. Work has been supported by a Ph.D. grant from the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux, the region Aquitaine, the scientific Dept. INRA SPE and by Interneuron Project (IASMA, Fondazione Edmund Mach). We would like to thank Pr. Michael Greenfield (Tours University, France) for the helpful comments.
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Communicated by: Sven Thatje
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Chuche, J., Thiéry, D. & Mazzoni, V. Do Scaphoideus titanus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) nymphs use vibrational communication?. Naturwissenschaften 98, 639–642 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0808-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0808-x