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Calling song signals and temporal preference functions in the cricket Teleogryllus leo

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Abstract

The acoustic display of many cricket species consists of trains of pulses (chirps) with intermittent pauses. Here, we investigated the temporal cues that females of the cricket Teleogryllus leo used to detect a pulse and a chirp pattern on two different time scales. For both patterns, females accepted a wide range of combinations that covered the respective pulse and chirp parameters in the songs of males. In tests with a continuous series of pulses at different modulation frequencies, the transfer function of pattern discrimination was also determined. Females exhibited two ranges of high response scores indicating two temporal filters with an inhibitory interaction. For the modulation frequency of the pulse pattern, the peak of the preference function was rather sharply tuned and at a lower pulse rate than produced by males. These results show that the combined output of both filters did not increase selectivity, but rather enlarged the accepted range of signals.

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Abbreviations

CDC:

Chirp duty cycle

CDUR:

Chirp duration

CPAU:

Chirp pause

CPER:

Chirp period

CV:

Coefficient of variation

PDC:

Pulse duty cycle

PDUR:

Pulse duration

PPAU:

Pause duration

PPER:

Pulse period

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Acknowledgments

We thank Klaus-Gerhard Heller for discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. The performed experiments comply with the “Principles of animal care”, publication No. 86-23, revised 1985 of the National Institute of Health, and also with the current laws of Germany. Supported by SFB 618 ‘Theoretical Biology’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioural Physiology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    M. M. Rothbart & R. M. Hennig

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  1. M. M. Rothbart
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  2. R. M. Hennig
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Correspondence to R. M. Hennig.

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Rothbart, M.M., Hennig, R.M. Calling song signals and temporal preference functions in the cricket Teleogryllus leo . J Comp Physiol A 198, 817–825 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-012-0751-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-012-0751-0

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