Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rivalry between Stink Bug Females in a Vibrational Communication Network

  • Published:
Journal of Insect Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the field, male pheromone attracts stink bugs to meet on the same plant and triggers females to call a male by the emission of the calling song. As first among Pentatomidae we describe female rivalry in Chinavia impicticornis, C. ubica and Euschistus heros. Rivalry starts in C. impicticornis by synchronized exchange of the first type of the female calling song pulse trains and proceeds by one of them either to change pulse trains from the first to the second type or to produce readily repeated single pulses. Both reactions either inhibit calling of the rival female or trigger her to respond by alternation with the second type of the calling song pulse trains. Female rivalry in C. ubica differs by the emission of the rival song that replaces alternation with the second type of the calling song typical for C. impicticornis. E. heros females synchronize pulses of the calling song duets and induce emission of the female rival song by one of them that partly inhibits singing of the other. These competitive interactions in Chinavia species reduce the proportion of couples when compared with single couples on a plant. Contrary to both Chinavia species, E. heros female rivalry does not inhibit male response, male signals overlap female emissions and create complex vibrations with modified amplitude modulation pattern caused by interference.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aquino MFS (2016) Interações de percevejos e parasitoides de adultos no sistema de cultura da Soja. Dissertation, Universidade de Brasília

  • Bagwell GJ, Čokl A, Millar JG (2008) Characterization and comparison of substrate-borne vibrational signals of Chlorochroa uhleri, Chlorochroa ligata and Chlorochroa sayi (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am 101:235–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blassioli-Moraes MC, Laumann RA, Čokl A, Borges M (2005) Vibratory signals of four Neotropical bug species. Physiol Entomol 30:175–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blassioli-Moraes MC, Magalhaes DM, Čokl A, Laumann RA, da Silva JP, Silva CCA, Borges M (2014) Vibrational communication and mating behaviour of Dichelops melacanthus (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) recorded from loudspeaker membranes and plants. Physiol Entomol 39:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borges M, Blassioli-Moraes MC (2017) The semiochemistry of Pentatomidae. In: Čokl A, Borges M (eds) Stink bugs biorational control based on communication processes. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 95–124

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Borges M, Jepson P, Howse P (1987) Long-range mate location and close-range courtship behaviour of the green stink bug, Nezara viridula and its mediation by sex pheromones. Entomol Rev 44:205–212

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury JW, Vehrencamp SL (2011) Principles of animal communication, 2nd edn. Sinauer Associates Inc. Publishers, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Broughton WB (1963) Methods in bio-acoustic terminology. In: Busnel RG (ed) Acoustic behaviour of animals. Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam London New York, pp 3–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Cocroft RB, Hamel JA (2010) Vibrational communication in the “other” social insects: a diversity of ecology, signals and signal function. In: O’Connell-Rodwell CE (ed) vibrational communication in animals. Transworld research network, Kerala, pp 47–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Čokl A (1983) Functional properties of vibroreceptors in the legs of Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). J Comp Physiol A 150:261–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Čokl A, Virant-Doberlet M, Stritih N (2000) Structure and function of songs emitted by southern green stink bugs from Brazil, Florida, Italy and Slovenia. Physiol Entomol 25:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Čokl A, Virant-Doberlet M, Zorović M (2006) Sense organs involved in vibratory communication in bugs. In: Drosopoulos E, Claridge MF (eds) Insect sounds and communication. CRC Press, Boca Raton London New York, pp 71–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Čokl A, Žunič A, Virant-Doberlet M (2011) Predatory bug Picromerus bidens communicates at different frequency levels. Central Eur. J Biol 6:431–439

    Google Scholar 

  • Čokl A, Laumann RA, Žunič-Kosi A, Blassioli-Moraes MC, Virant-Doberlet M, Borges M (2015) Interference of overlapping insect vibratory communication signals: an Eushistus heros model. PLoS One 10:1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Čokl A, Laumann RA, Stritih N (2017) Substrate-borne vibratory communication. In: Čokl A, Borges M (eds) Stink bugs: biorational control based on communication processes. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 125–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Fehr WR, Caviness CE, Burmood DT, Pennington JS (1971) Stage of development descriptions for soybeans, Glycine max (L.) Merrill. Crop Sci 11:929–931

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gogala M, Razpotnik R (1974) Methods of oscillographic analysis for research in bioacoustics. Biološki vestnik 22:209–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Grazia J, Panizzi AR, Greve C, Schwertner CF, Campos LA, Garbelotto TA, Fernandes JAM (2015) Stink bugs (Pentatomidae). In: Panizzi AR, Grazia J (eds) True bugs (Heteroptera) of the Neotropics. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 681–756

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Greenfield MD (1994) Synchronous and alternating choruses in insects and anurans: common mechanisms and diverse functions. Am Zool 34:605–615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haccou P, Meelis E (1992) Statistical analysis of behavioural data: an approach based on time-structured models. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Higuchi H (1992) Population prevalence of occurrence and spatial distribution of Piezodorus hybneri adults (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) on soybeans. Appl Entomol Zool 27:363–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kavčič A, Čokl A, Laumann RA, Blassioli-Moraes MC, Borges M (2013) Tremulatory and abdomen vibration signals enable communication through air in the stink bug Euschistus heros. PLoS One 8:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Laumann RA, Čokl A, Blassioli-Moraes MC, Borges M (2016) Vibratory communication and its relevance to reproductive isolation in two sympatric species (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae: Pentatominae). J Insect Behav 29:643–665

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor PK, Peake TM (2000) Communication networks: social environments for receiving and signalling behaviour. Acta Ethol 2:71–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panizzi AR (2013) History and contemporary perspectives of the integrated pest management of soybean in Brazil. Neotrop Entomol 42:119–127

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panizzi AR, Lucini T (2016) What happened to Nezara viridula (L.) in the Americas? Possible reasons to explain populations decline. Neotrop Entomol 45:619–628

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panizzi AR, McPherson JE, James DG, Javahery M, McPherson RM (2000) Stink bugs (Pentatomidae). In: Schaefer CW, Panizzi AR (eds) Heteroptera of economic importance. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 421–474

    Google Scholar 

  • Percy DM, Day MF (2005) Observations of unusual acoustic behaviour in two Australian leafhoppers (Hemiptera; Cicadellidae). J Nat Hist 39:3407–3417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinter-Wollman N, Hobson EA, Smith JE, Edelman AJ, Shizuka D, de Silva S, Waters JS, Prager SD, Sasaki T, Wittemyer G, Fewell J, McDonald DB (2014) The dynamics of animal social networks: analytical, conceptual, and theoretical advances. Behav Ecol 25:242–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2011). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://www.R-project.org/, Vienna

  • Shestakov LS (2015) A comparative analysis of vibrational signals in 16 sympatric species (Pentatomidae, Heteroptera). Entomol Rev 95:310–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva ACA, Laumann RA, Ferreira JBC, Blassioli-Moraes MC, Borges M, Čokl A (2012) Reproductive biology, mating behaviour and vibratory communication of the brown-winged stink bug, Edessa meditabunda (Fabr.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). Psyche 2012:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tillman PG, Northfield TD, Mizell RF, Riddle TC (2009) Spatiotemporal patterns and dispersal of stink bugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) in peanut-cottonfarmscapes. Env Entomol 38:1038–1052

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Virant-Doberlet M, Čokl A, Zorović M (2006) Use of substrate vibrations for orientation: from behaviour to physiology. In: Drosopoulos S, Claridge MF (eds) Insect sounds and communication. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 81–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Virant-Doberlet M, Mazzoni V, De Groot M, Polajnar J, Lucchi A, Symondson WOC, Čokl A (2014) Vibrational communication networks: eavesdropping and biotic noise. In: Cocroft R, Gogala M, PSM H, Wessel A (eds) (2014) studying vibrational communication. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, pp 93–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Zgonik V, Čokl A (2014) The role of signals of different modalities in initiating vibratory communication in Nezara viridula. Central Eur. J Biol 9:200–211

    Google Scholar 

  • Zorović M (2011) Temporal processing of vibratory communication signals at the level of ascending interneurons in Nezara viridula (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). PLoS One 6:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Zorović M, Prešern J, Čokl A (2008) Morphology and physiology of vibratory interneurons in the thoracic ganglia of the southern green stinkbug Nezara viridula (L.) J Comp Neurol 508:365–381

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Maycon Vinicius Laia Aquino for help with insect rearing. The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) supports M. Borges, M.C. B- Moares and R. Laumann with productivity grants. The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) and The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) support long-term research at Semiochemicals Laboratory with grants. This work was supported by the Research Support Foundation of the Federal District (FAP-DF, Project 193.000.978/2015) and the Slovenian National Research Agency (Research Program No. P1-0255). Aline Moreira Dias received financial support through a grant from the Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improving (CAPES).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Andrej Čokl

  2. Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília, CEP 70910-900, Brazil

    Aline Moreira Dias, Miguel Borges & Raul Alberto Laumann

  3. Laboratório de Semioquímicos, EMBRAPA Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Avenida W5 Norte (Final), Brasilia, 70770-900, Brazil

    Maria Carolina Blassioli Moraes, Miguel Borges & Raul Alberto Laumann

Authors
  1. Andrej Čokl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aline Moreira Dias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maria Carolina Blassioli Moraes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Miguel Borges
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Raul Alberto Laumann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrej Čokl.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Online Resource ESM Fig. 1

. Relation between temporal and frequency characteristics of 80 FRS pulse trains emitted by 11 different C. ubica female. (A) Relation between pulse train duration and the number of pulses per pulse train. Pulse train pulses relative (%) distribution of duration (N = 936) (B), inter-pulse interval (N = 873) (C) and dominant frequency (N = 948) (D). (E) Relation between FRS pulse duration and frequency sweep determined as the frequency difference between pulse start and end per 100 ms pulse duration. (GIF 293 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 3432 kb)

Online Resource ESM Video 1

. Two females fight when they are in the same leaf. One female ejects the other from the leaf (MOV 35999 kb)

Online resource ESM Video 2

. After copulation the rival female tries to separate the couple and eject the copulated female from the leaf (MOV 16917 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Čokl, A., Dias, A.M., Moraes, M.C.B. et al. Rivalry between Stink Bug Females in a Vibrational Communication Network. J Insect Behav 30, 741–758 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-017-9651-z

Download citation

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-017-9651-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation