Crickets with extravagant mating songs compensate for predation risk with extra caution

Modern models for the evolution of conspicuous male mating displays assume that males with conspicuous displays must bear the cost of enhanced predati on risk. However, if males can compensate behaviourally for their increased conspicuousness by acting more cautiously towards predators, they may be a ble to lower this cost. In the field cricket Gryllus integer, males call to attract females? and differ in their durations of uninterrupted trilling ( calling-bout lengths). Differences among males in calling-bout lengths are heritable, and females prefer males with longer calling bouts. In this stud y males with longer, more conspicuous songs behaved more cautiously than ma les with shorter songs on two different tests of predator avoidance. They t ook longer to emerge from a safe shelter within a novel, potentially danger ous environment, and they ceased calling for a longer time when their calls were interrupted by a predator cue. Thus, these males appear to compensate behaviourally for their more conspicuous mating displays. Additionally! la tencies to emerge from a shelter in the novel environment were consistent o ver time for both individual males from the field and males that had been r eared in the laboratory; indicating that the differences in latency among m ales may be heritable.