Similar songs, but different mate localization strategies of the three species of Phaneroptera occurring in Western Europe (Orthoptera: Phaneropteridae)

Abstract

In bush-crickets, males produce a calling song to announce their presence to females. Females ready to mate respond either by a phonotactic approach or signal their presence acoustically by establishing a kind of duet. This duetting behaviour is typical of phaneropterid bush-crickets, of which many species in Europe are flightless. In the long-winged genus Phaneroptera, the females also respond acoustically to the male calling song, which is quite similar in the three west European species in this genus. After acoustical contact, however, the behaviour of males and females of the three species differ markedly. In P. nana, males and females engage in a duet in which the female responds to each syllable of the male song (and he approaches her). In P. falcata, the female only responds to certain elements of the male song that are produced at long intervals. However, after her response the male does not change its song or its position, but often increases its singing activity (and the female approaches him). In P. sparsa the female only responds to particular, very complicated and soft elements of the male song, which are typically repeated at intervals of several to many minutes. After hearing the response, the male drastically changes its song by producing only the soft elements. These parts of the song contain syllables with a unique spectral composition and others that may threaten eavesdropping rivals. In this species both sexes probably move towards each other during mate localization. At present, we can only speculate about the adaptive nature of the different strategies.