Repository logo
 

Substrate texture affects female cricket walking response to male calling song.


Change log

Authors

Sarmiento-Ponce, EJ 
Sutcliffe, MPF 

Abstract

Field crickets are extensively used as a model organism to study female phonotactic walking behaviour, i.e. their attraction to the male calling song. Laboratory-based phonotaxis experiments generally rely on arena or trackball-based settings; however, no attention has been paid to the effect of substrate texture on the response. Here, we tested phonotaxis in female Gryllus bimaculatus, walking on trackballs machined from methyl-methacrylate foam with different cell sizes. Surface height variations of the trackballs, due to the cellular composition of the material, were measured with profilometry and characterized as smooth, medium or rough, with roughness amplitudes of 7.3, 16 and 180 µm. Female phonotaxis was best on a rough and medium trackball surface, a smooth surface resulted in a significant lower phonotactic response. Claws of the cricket foot were crucial for effective walking. Females insert their claws into the surface pores to allow mechanical interlocking with the substrate texture and a high degree of attachment, which cannot be established on smooth surfaces. These findings provide insight to the biomechanical basis of insect walking and may inform behavioural studies that the surface texture on which walking insects are tested is crucial for the resulting behavioural response.

Description

Keywords

biomechanics, contact force measurements, depth profile, ground-living insects, insect walking, tarsal claws

Journal Title

R Soc Open Sci

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2054-5703
2054-5703

Volume Title

5

Publisher

The Royal Society
Sponsorship
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/G018723/1)
This study is supported by a Mexican CONACyT Cambridge Trust Scholarship to E.J.S.P., Newnham College, the Royal Entomological Society, the Philosophical Society and the Department of Zoology. The equipment used was funded by a BBSRC grant to B.H.