Presentation Details
Characterizing multimodal communication in black-legged meadow katydids (Orchelimum nigripes) 

Chante Jacobs1, Jared Swensen1, Thalia Leon Rodriguez1, Jennifer Hamel2, Flavia Barbosa1.

1Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois, USA.2Elon University, Elon, North Carolina, USA

Abstract


Multimodal communication occurs when animals communicate through more than one sensory modality. Katydids produce acoustic signals by rubbing their wings together, but some species also produce substrate-borne vibrations known as tremulations. We set to investigate whether tremulations are present in black-legged meadow katydids, Orchelimum nigripes, a species whose acoustic signals have been widely documented. We hypothesized that acoustic signals and tremulations will vary by social contexts and will contain different types of information. Individuals were field-collected and brought to the laboratory, where focal males were tested under three different social contexts: with another male, with a female, and solitary. Acoustic calls and tremulations were recorded, and behaviors were video-recorded. Tremulation behaviors were observed in male-female contexts, which to the best of our knowledge is the first documented observation of vibrational signaling in this species. These results suggest that tremulations are performed by both males and females in the presence of another individual but not in in isolation, while acoustic calling was observed in all three treatments. 

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