Scientists are fascinated that Hawaiian
crickets still perform their vigorous mating call, despite having evolved to
lose their song to avoid a deadly new parasite
Wed 14 Feb 2018 06.01 GMT
Male field crickets traditionally attract a
mate by “singing” – creating a sound by rhythmically scraping their wings back
and forth.
In Hawaii, however, their
song attracts a less welcome female: parasitic flies, whose larvae devour and
kill the crickets from the inside out.
To survive, some smart field crickets have
rapidly evolved to remove the sound-producing structures on their wings,
meaning their vigorous “song” no longer endangers them, as it is completely
silent.
These mutations were first identified on the
island of Kauai and by photographing and recording these insects under lab
conditions, scientists have now discovered that the singing continues, even
though it appears to be an intensive use of energy for no purpose.
Writing in the journal Biology Letters,
researchers from the University of St Andrews and the University of Cambridge
reveal how they photographed and recorded the crickets under laboratory
conditions to document this silent song.
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