Ontogeny of positive phonotaxis in female crickets, Gryllus bimaculatus De Geer: dynamics of sensitivity, frequency-intensity domain, and selectivity to temporal pattern of the male calling song

Abstract

• 1. The ontogeny of positive phono taxis (PPT) in female crickets, Gryllus bimaculatus was followed in tethered flight. During the first day of adult life many females already demonstrated PPT to the calling song (CS) of conspecific males. The average threshold of PPT at 5 kHz, the dominant frequency of the CS, decreased by 30 dB by the time of sexual maturity (Fig. 1).

• 2. No correlates of this decrease were found in the activity of the most sensitive ascending prothoracic neuron tuned to 5 kHz recorded in the neck connective. This is presumably the AN1 neuron which is known to be involved in PPT realization. Its threshold at 5 kHz in young animals was the same as in adults. Therefore, ascending circuits of PPT seem to be mature by the first day of imago life and there should be some other mechanisms preventing performance of PPT by young walking females until maturation.

• 3. The PPT of females in flight is tuned to 5 kHz, much sharper than in walking (Fig. 2). In flight, the carrier frequency of a signal is probably an important parameter driving PPT, at least in a no-choice situation, whereas on the substrate, at close range, temporal parameters become decisive.

• 4. The ontogenetic development of the selectivity of a female's PPT to temporal parameters of a signal passes 3 successive steps: 1) response mainly to the trill with pulse repetition rate as in the CS; 2) response mainly to the actual CS with chirp structure; 3) destruction of selectivity (Figs. 3–6). The existence of steps 1 and 2 strengthens our hypothesis, that in phylogeny, the trill (pulse rate) detector of the CS “recognizer” in the CNS appeared earlier, and was later accompanied by the chirp detector.

• 5. Joint breeding of female larvae with males accelerates maturation of the CS recognizer.