SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES IN SOUND PRODUCTION AND PATTERN-RECOGNITION IN TETTIGONIIDS

A brief comparative description of the stridulatory songs of nine diff erent tettigoniid species is given to introduce a set of four paramete rs (phase of sound production during opening and closing movement of t he wings, syllable repetition mode, syllable similarity, and impulse p attern of the syllables) to characterize the temporal pattern of tetti goniid songs. The importance of different song parameters for female p honotaxis was investigated in two tettigoniid species (Ephippiger ephi ppiger and Tettigonia viridissima). Two-choice experiments revealed th at the impulse pattern of the closing syllable is an important paramet er for the phonotactic behaviour of E. ephippiger, whereas the syllabl e pattern is a decisive parameter for species discrimination in T. vir idissima.