首页|The best of both worlds:cicada males change costly signals to achieve mates while females choose a mate based on both calling and courtship songs

The best of both worlds:cicada males change costly signals to achieve mates while females choose a mate based on both calling and courtship songs

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Cicadas usually sing and mate in the higher parts of trees.Studies addressing the effects of different acoustic signals on mate choice in Cicadidae are very limited.We investigated the effects of both acoustical features and morphological traits on mate choice in an East Asian cicada Platypleura kaemp-feri.Males produce high-rate calling songs that attract females,then produce low-rate courtship songs to secure mating when a female is attracted.Higher calling song rate(CR),shorter single-pulse dur-ation,and shorter pulse period of the calling song,together with lower courtship song rate and longer echeme period of the courtship song,are the most desirable traits used by females to choose a mate.These traits indicate that the more a male can raise the rate of song production,the higher the probabil-ity he is sexually selected by the female.No correlation was found between morphological traits and mating success.After mating,a minority of males started emitting calling songs again,but the CR was significantly lower than before mating and none of them attracted a new mate later.This promotes females mating with unmated males.We hypothesize that P.kaempferi may have the best of both worlds due to the unique song modulation and the mechanism of female mate choice:males change energetically,costly acoustic signals to achieve mates,while females choose a mate based on males'acoustic properties.Our results contribute to better understanding the diversity of mating preference and enrich the mechanism of mate choice in acoustic insects.

acoustic insectsCicadidaecourtshipmate choicesong modulation

Zehai HOU、Songshan WEI、Cong WEI

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Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resources and Pest Management of the Ministry of Education,College of Plant Protection,Northwest A&F University,Yangling,Shaanxi 712100,China

Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control,Beijing Forestry University,Beijing 100083,China

National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China

3177250532070476

2022

动物学报(英文版)
中国科学院动物研究所,中国动物学会

动物学报(英文版)

CSCDSCI
影响因子:0.198
ISSN:1674-5507
年,卷(期):2022.68(6)
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