The katydid country: bioacoustics and ecology of tettigoniid communities from the Indian subcontinent

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study provides the first description of acoustic communities from a subtropical rainforest in Northeast India and a previously unexplored site from the Western Ghats. We describe call structures of 15 katydid species from the Indian subcontinent. The habitat and seasonal variations of the communities were investigated at both sites. Most species observed produced ultrasonic broadband calls (bandwidth: 11.07–42.5 kHz); only two Pseudophyllinae members produced pure tone calls. The study includes calls of two previously undescribed species of the genus Ducetia (subfamily: Phaneropterinae) from the subcontinent. We observed diverse acoustic communities at both sites represented by five major subfamilies: Conocephalinae, Hexacentriane, Mecopodinae, Phaneropterinae and Pseudophyllinae. The acoustic communities at each site exhibited seasonal variations and habitat preferences. The post-monsoon season had a richer community composition than the dry season. We compared differences in the community compositions between habitats using a presence–absence matrix based on 526 individuals from the two sites. Species composition was found to be different among habitats (stress = .06, dimension: 2), with ANOSIM indicating separation of species among understorey, shrubland and grassland habitats.