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The vibratory song repertoire of the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula from France [abstract]

N. Miklas, M. Renou and A. Cokl (2002). The vibratory song repertoire of the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula from France [abstract]. Bioacoustics, Volume 13 (1): 101 -102

 

Abstract: 

We investigated the vibratory songs emitted during the premating time of the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula L. (Pentatomidae, Heteroptera). The songs were recorded as substrate vibrations from animals standing on the membrane of a loudspeaker and analysed by conventional computer programmes for sound analysis. Females emit the calling (FCS), courtship (FCrS) and repellent (FRS) songs and males the calling (MCS), courtship (MCrS) and rival (MRS) songs. The FCS is composed of trains of broad band pulses and trains containing a broad band (FCS-BB) and a narrow band (FCS-NB) pulse. The MCS is characterised by narrow band pulses repeated as single unit and broad band pulses usually grouped into pulse trains of 2-6 units. Courtship songs are similar in males and females and are characterised by a long unique pulse a few seconds long. In males only the MCrS may show fusion between MCS pulses into the long pulse train and a long pulse followed in most cases by a short postpulse. The MRS pulses are longer than MCS ones and in a fully developed rivalry an alternation in an a-b-a-b fashion between two males could be observed. The FRS inhibited male calling and courting and shows no distinct temporal structure but is a vibration a few second long. The basic and dominant frequency peak of all the recorded songs lies between 94 + 7.7 Hz (N=7) in FRS and 121+ 13.5 Hz (N=100) in MCS. In narrow band pulses in the FCS-NB the Q10dB reached up to 6.9 and below 2 in broad band pulses. The recorded songs fit well with the general scheme for the species but certain temporal characteristics are different when compared with songs of other geographically isolated populations. The significance of these differences for specific mate recognition is under investigation.