Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
PLoS One. 2014 Mar 18;9(3):e92366. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092366. eCollection 2014.
Insects of the order Orthoptera are well-known for their acoustic communication. The structures used for this purpose show a high diversity which obviously relates to differences in song parameters and to the physics of sound production. Here we describe song and morphology of the sound producing organs of a tropical bush-cricket, Ectomoptera nepicauda, from East Africa. It has a very unusual calling song consisting of frequency-modulated, pure-tone sounds in the high ultrasonic range of 80 to 120 kHz and produced by extremely fast wing movements. Concerning morphology, it represents the most extreme state in the degree of left-right fore-wing differentiation found among Orthoptera: the acoustic parts of the left fore-wing consist exclusively of the stridulatory file, comparable in function to the bow of a violin, while the right wing carries only the plectrum ( = string) and mirror ( = soundbox).
直翅目昆虫以其声学通讯而闻名。用于此目的的结构显示出高度的多样性，这显然与歌曲参数的差异以及声音产生的物理学有关。在这里，我们描述了来自东非的热带灌木蟋蟀 Ectomoptera nepicauda 的发声器官的歌声和形态。它的叫声非常不寻常，由高频超声范围内 80 到 120 kHz 的调频纯音组成，由极快的翅膀运动产生。就形态而言，它代表了直翅目动物中左右前翅分化程度的最极端状态：左前翅的发声部分仅由摩擦结构组成，其功能类似于小提琴的琴弓，而右翅仅携带拨片（=琴弦）和反射镜（=音盒）。
