Supersonus
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
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| Sarria-S , Mossis , Windmill , Jackson , Montealegre-Z , 2014 |
Supersonus is a genus of leaf locusts that was established in 2014 for three species, also newly described this year, that live in tropical South America . The name is chosen after the extremely loud mating song of the males, which is in the ultrasonic range above 100 kilohertz (after English supersonic ,actually the supersonic speed , but occasionally also used for ultrasound).
features
They are small leaf locusts with a body length between 10 and 18 millimeters with a green or yellowish color with very long, thin legs that give the animal a spider-like habit . The animals are extremely short-winged (brachypter). Hind wings are completely absent. The fore wings ( Tegmina ) are reduced to small scale-like structures in both sexes. The male tegmina, which are used to produce sounds, are asymmetrical . Only the right wing carries a structure called a mirror (speculum) made of a thin membrane surrounded by strong veins . The tympanic organs , which serve as acoustic sensory organs, are, as is typical for leaf locusts, slit-shaped organs in the front runners , they sit on a thickening of the limb and are somewhat asymmetrical, the inner one smaller than the outer one. In addition, the tibiae of the front and middle legs are characterized by long, flexible spines. The genus can be distinguished from related genera on the basis of the shape of the male genital organs (subgenital plate, tittilators and cerci ), and from Arachnoscelis also on the basis of the mandibles that are not enlarged in the male sex .
Sound generation
The songs of the male leaf locusts are produced by stridulation by rubbing the two pairs of wings against each other. The left wing carries a row of teeth called a "file" on a wing vein, over which the mostly slightly bent edge of the other wing is pulled. The sound produced is amplified by the resonant oscillation of the wing, especially a thin membrane field called a mirror, spanned by strong veins. The frequency of the generated sound depends in a complex way on the distance of the teeth of the file, the shape and speed of movement of the right wing edge and on the size of the resonating, sound-amplifying structures. With Supersonus , the sound at a pitch of around 115 kilohertz is particularly effectively amplified by the special structure of the mirror. This has a diameter of only approx. 0.41 millimeters (with Supersonus aequoreus ). Due to the optimized ratio between the sound wavelength and the diameter of the resonator, it can possibly act as a particularly effective monopole radiator . In addition, the wings of Supersonus are not angled as they are with most leaf locusts when generating the sound, but rather held parallel to the notum of the fuselage, so that a chamber is created. Only a few other insect species are capable of producing similarly intensive sound in the ultrasonic range.
Way of life and distribution
The species of the genus live in tropical lowland rainforests in the Departamento del Chocó , Colombia and Pichincha Province , Ecuador . Based on laboratory observations and morphology, a predatory diet is adopted; the long thorns on the underside of the legs are, as in related species, probably used to hold on to small prey organisms.
Taxonomy and Phylogeny
The newly described species, like some other Central and South American species, were previously included in the genus Arachnoscelis . However, recent investigations make it seem likely that neither the species listed here under Supersonus nor the other species classified here - with the exception of the type species - actually belong to this genus. There are two hypotheses about the relationship of the species group. Either they belong within the Tettigoniidae to the subfamily Listroscelidinae, or to the Meconematinae. In a molecular study based on the DNA sequence of six genes, the Listroscelidinae turned out to be paraphyletic compared to Meconematinae and Hexacentrinae . A revision of the subfamily is required in order to clarify the exact family relationships.
The genus Supersonus includes three species, Supersonus aequoreus , Supersonus undulus , and Supersonus piercei . All three were described together with the genus in the same paper .
swell
- Fabio A. Sarria-S, Glenn K. Morris, James FC Windmill, Joseph Jackson, Fernando Montealegre-Z (2014): Shrinking Wings for Ultrasonic Pitch Production: Hyperintense Ultra-Short-Wavelength Calls in a New Genus of Neotropical Katydids (Orthoptera : Tettigoniidae). PLOS ONE Volume 9, Issue 6, e98708 doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0098708 (open access)
- Fernando Montealegre-Z, Glenn K. Morris, Andrew C. Mason (2006): Generation of extreme ultrasonics in rainforest katydids. Journal of Experimental Biology 209: 4923-4937. doi : 10.1242 / jeb.02608
Individual evidence
- ↑ DCF Rentz (1995): Do the spines on the legs of katydids have a role in predation? (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Listroscelidinae). Journal of Orthoptera Research 4: 199-200.
- ↑ David A. Nickle (2002): New species of katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) of the neotropical genera Arachnoscelis (Listroscelidinae) and Phlugiola (Meconematinae), with taxonomic notes. Journal of Orthoptera Research 11 (2): 125-133. doi : 10.1665 / 1082-6467 (2002) 011 [0125: NSOKOT] 2.0.CO; 2
- ↑ AV Gorochov (2012): Systematics of the American katydids (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae). Communication 2. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS Vol. 316, No. 4: 285-306.
- ↑ Fernando Montoallegre-Z, Oscar J. Cadena-Castaneda, Benedict Chivers (2011): The spider-like katydid Arachnoscelis (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Listroscelidinae): anatomical study of the genus. Zootaxa 3666 (4): 591-600.
- ↑ Arachnoscelidina Gorochov, 2013 at Orthoptera speciesfile online
- ↑ Joseph D. Mugleston, Hojun Song, Michael F. Whiting (2013): A century of paraphyly: A molecular phylogeny of katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) supports multiple origins of leaf-like wings. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 69: 1120-1134. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2013.07.014