Acoustic behaviour of insects is under firm genetic control and auditory behaviour is highly stereotyped and predictable. Males and females of the green stink bug Nezara viridula produce species and sex specific vibratory signals. The songs of bugs from geographically isolated population differ in their temporal characteristics. Hybrids were produced between the bugs from Brazilian and Slovenian populations in order to examine the levels of genetic inheritance of their vibratory songs. Hybrid males and females produced songs that are distinctly different from parental songs and these differences can be attributable to genetic factors. The results show that in some parameters the hybrid songs are intermediate between the parental types. Several song parameters are apparently sex-linked, since these parameters differ significantly between two reciprocal hybrids. The hybrid songs are more similar to that of paternal population. No cases were found where sex-linked parameters in hybrids more closely resembled those of maternal population. It remains to be established whether observed genetically determined differences in vibratory songs also indicate that cryptic species exist within the taxon N. viridula.
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