Tricksy insects sing a song of love

and deceit
by Adam J Calhoun
Beyond a spider snacking on an unfortunate fly, the social lives of insects tend to go
unrecognized. Perhaps you notice all the ants marching in a line, or bees heading back
to a nest, but it all seems so mechanical, so primal.
In reality, insects have social lives that are more comple than you might imagine. !ne
of the most intriguing is insect courtship. Across many species " such as crickets, fruit
flies, moths " males must sing to the female in order to mate. #he female $ill listen,
considering, and if the male does $ell enough% Then he can mate. If he can&t sing $ell
enough% 'e&s out.
(hile beautiful and touching, it does make you $onder why% (hy should a female care
that a male can sing $ell% #here is evidence that song can indicate the fitness of the
male ) males $ith better song have offspring that are more likely to survive. 'o$ever,
insects often live in mied environments that consist of many different species. If you
dare, go to a garbage heap buzzing $ith flies. Chances are that it $ill have big ones and
small ones, many different species competing for the same food. !ne $ay to screen out
the $rong type of fly is to listen for the right song.
But insects are sneaky and can have alternative motives. Another use of the song lies not
*ust in $ooing the ladies, but in scaring off competitors. +ales of one species of moth
$ill shout out a string of shrieks that sound like the ultrasonic homing call of the bat.
,ook at the figure belo$- $hile the long, crooning song used to attract females doesn&t
scare off other males, bat calls " or the short pulse of other males " $ill send them
packing .capture rate is the probability of a moth making its $ay to a trap emitting
courtship pheromones/.
Insects are tricky creatures, able to sneakily imitate predators in order to scare off
competitors before deftly turning to romantic ballads.
References
0akano, 1., Ihara, 2., +ishiro, 3., #oyama, +., 4 #oda, 5. .6789/. :ouble meaning of
courtship song in a moth Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281
.8;<=/, 67897<97)67897<97 :!I- 87.87=<>rspb.6789.7<97
'oikkala, A., Aspi, J., 4 5uvanto, ,. .8==</. +ale courtship song fre?uency as an
indicator of male genetic ?uality in an insect species, :rosophila montana Proceedings
of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 265 .8@=A/, A7@)A7< :!I-
87.87=<>rspb.8==<.7@6@
Photo by Johan J.Ingles),e 0obel