ACOUSTIC COMUNICATION AND SEXUAL SELECTION IN ORTHOPTERA (INSECTA)

V.Yu. Vedenina

Institute of Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences,
B.Karetnyi per. 19, Moscow, 127994, Russia

Comparison of calling and courtship songs and mating strategies in different groups of Orthoptera shows that acoustic signals in some groups, in particular, bush crickets, are used for searching conspecific mates at a distance, and song evolution is primarily driven by the acoustic surroundings and simultaneously singing other sympatric species. In contrast, acoustic communication in other groups of Orthoptera, such as grasshoppers of the subfamily Gomphocerinae, is mainly a short-distance communication. Song evolution in this group is to a greater extent driven by sexual selection than by the acoustic surroundings and, therefore, could proceed faster than in other groups of Orthoptera and play a major role in speciation.