AUDITORY RECEPTOR ORGANS IN THE FORELEGS OF GAMPSOCLEIS-GRATIOSA (TETTIGONIIDAE) - MORPHOLOGY AND FUNCTION OF THE ORGANS IN COMPARISON TO THE FREQUENCY PARAMETERS OF THE CONSPECIFIC SONG

The morphology and the physiology of the auditory receptor organs in t he forelegs of the tettigoniid species Gampsocleis gratiosa were inves tigated in detail. According to the tonotopic organization of the rece ptor cells of the crista acoustica in bushcrickets the threshold curve s of all receptors found in the organs were correlated with the morpho logy of the auditory receptor cells. This was done by arranging them i n relation to their frequency tuning with the receptors along the chai n of cells in both organs starting proximally with the extreme low fre quency cell up to the highest ultrasonic cells at the distal end of th e crista acoustica. This investigation reveals that the auditory recep tor organs of Gampsocleis gratiosa possess a broad banded hearing thre shold curve including very low frequency parts. Also the conspecific s tridulatory song is very broad banded with extraordinarily low frequen cy components. Therefore the sender and the receiver of this species-s pecific communication system seem to be well adapted to each other. (C ) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.