Other Insects

Abstract

Insects produce sounds in a variety of ways. The most common method is by friction of one part of the hard exoskeleton against another part, but other methods are also used. Dumortier (1963a) summarized the methods of sound production in insects as (1) friction of differentiated parts as in tettigoniids, crickets and grasshoppers, (2) vibration of membranes, for example the buckling of tymbal organs in cicadas and some moths, (3) the expulsion of a fluid (gas or liquid) as in the death’s head hawk moth, (4) shocks to the substrate, well known in the death watch beetle and (5) vibration of appendages such as the wings which produces the ‘droning’ sounds of bees and mosquitoes when in flight. So far ultrasounds are known to be produced by at least the first three of these methods.