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Acoustic communication is widespread in beetles, is often sexually dimorphic, and plays a significant role in behaviours such as premating recognition, courtship, and copulation. However, the factors that determine the presence or absence of acoustic signalling in a given species remain unclear. We examined acoustic communication in bark beetles (Scolytinae) and pinhole borers (Platypodinae), which are two speciose groups with widespread sound production capabilities. We show that body size along with the sequence of host colonisation predict the presence of acoustic communication, and report, for the first time in the animal kingdom, a size limit—1.9 mm—below which acoustic signalling ceases to be present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bark and ambrosia beetles and pinhole borers (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae) are two subfamilies of weevils that use acoustic communication within plant tissue. These insects transmit and detect sound in a medium that is neither air nor water and they are among the smallest animals with sound-producing organs. Nevertheless, their sound production is sorely understudied, mostly due to the difficulties associated with acoustically monitoring individuals inside plants. We analysed the stridulatory sounds from 55 bark and ambrosia beetle species within 15 subtribes collected in four countries, making this the largest acoustic dataset of these taxa to date. We characterised and compared the amplitude and spectro-temporal parameters of the distress airborne signals produced by the beetles, in conjunction with phenology and life history data. Sound production was present in 33% of the collected species, of which 60% of these sounds had not been previously reported. Depending on species, either both sexes stridulated or only one. Some species had calls with different acoustic morphotypes (one, two, or three notes), and when both sexes stridulated, sounds generally differed. Our data suggest that type of mating system and size play an important role in determining the acoustic communicatory capacity of most species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]