Context Specific Signaling with Different Frequencies - Directed to Different Receivers? A Case Study in Gonatoxia Katydids (Orthoptera, Phaneropteridae)

In katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea) of the subfamily Phaneropterinae females ready to mate initiate a duet, announcing her position to the male singer, but also potentially to eavesdropping rivals. In many species the male seems to defend the communication by adding self-produced imitations of a female response. If these signals occur within the male sensory time-window after the female song, they can disturb the orientation of rivals. In two species of the genus Gonatoxia, males and females use short, relatively narrow-banded sounds (width 2–7 kHz 10 dB below peak). Male song and female response, however, differ considerably in peak frequency. In G. maculata, the peak frequency of the last part of the male song (13 kHz) is between that of the first part (15 kHz) and the female response (9 kHz), in G. helleri the last part (9 kHz; assumed imitation) and the female song are identical in peak frequency and by a factor two lower than the first part (19 kHz). The male stridulatory file of this species is correspondingly modified and differs from all other members of the genus. The imitation of spectral properties of the female response is not known from any other katydid.