Divergent Preferences for Song Structure between a Field Cricket and its Phonotactic Parasitoid

In many animals, males produce signals to attract females for mating. However, eavesdropping parasites may exploit these conspicuous signals to find their hosts. In these instances, the strength and direction of natural and sexual selection substantially influence song evolution. Male variable field...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of insect behavior 2012-09, Vol.25 (5), p.467-477
Main Authors: Beckers, Oliver M, Wagner, William E. Jr
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Animal communication
Animal Ecology
Animal ethology
Animal reproduction
animals
Behavioral Sciences
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Entomology
Evolution
Evolutionary Biology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gryllidae
Gryllus
Gryllus lineaticeps
hosts
Insects
Life Sciences
Mating
mating behavior
Natural selection
Neurobiology
Ormia ochracea
Parasites
Parasitoids
phonotaxis
Predation
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Sexual selection
Song
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Summary:In many animals, males produce signals to attract females for mating. However, eavesdropping parasites may exploit these conspicuous signals to find their hosts. In these instances, the strength and direction of natural and sexual selection substantially influence song evolution. Male variable field crickets, Gryllus lineaticeps, produce chirped songs to attract mates. The eavesdropping parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea uses cricket songs to find its hosts. We tested female preferences for song structure (i.e., chirped song vs. trilled song) in crickets and flies using choice experiments. Female crickets from a parasitized and a non-parasitized population significantly preferred the species-typical chirped song, whereas flies significantly preferred a trilled song, which is expressed by other hosts in different regions. Sexual selection due to female choice and natural selection due to fly predation both appear to favor the chirped song structure of G. lineaticeps in the parasitized population, whereas sexual selection favors the chirped structure in the non-parasitized population.
ISSN:0892-7553
1572-8889
DOI:10.1007/s10905-011-9312-6