State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Nat Commun. 2011 Jun 14;2:342. doi: 10.1038/ncomms1339.
Acoustic communication has an important role in the reproductive behaviour of anurans. Although males of the concave-eared frog (Odorrana tormota) have shown an ultrasonic communication capacity adapted to the intense, predominately low-frequency ambient noise from local streams, whether the females communicate with ultrasound remains unclear. Here we present evidence that females exhibit no ultrasonic sensitivity. Acoustic playback experiments show that the calls from male evoke phonotaxis and vocal responses from gravid females, whereas the ultrasonic components (frequencies above 20 kHz) of the calls do not elicit any phonotaxis or vocalization in the females. Electrophysiological recordings from the auditory midbrain reveal an upper frequency limit at 16 kHz in females. Laser Doppler vibrometer measurements show that the velocity amplitude of the tympanic membranes peaks at 5 kHz in females and at ∼7 kHz in males. The auditory sex differences in O. tormota imply that ultrasonic hearing has evolved only in male anurans.
声学通讯在两栖动物的繁殖行为中具有重要作用。尽管凹耳蛙（Odorrana tormota）的雄性具有适应当地溪流强烈的、主要是低频环境噪声的超声通讯能力，但雌性是否通过超声进行通讯尚不清楚。本研究提供了雌性不具有超声敏感性的证据。声学回放实验表明，雄性的叫声会引起怀孕雌性的声向性和发声反应，而叫声中的超声成分（频率高于 20 kHz）不会引起雌性的任何声向性或发声反应。从中耳的电生理记录显示，雌性的上限频率为 16 kHz。激光多普勒测振仪测量显示，雌性鼓膜的速度振幅峰值在 5 kHz，而雄性在约 7 kHz。O. tormota 听觉性别差异表明，超声听觉仅在雄性两栖动物中进化。
