what is communication

The process of communication is what allows us to interct with other people ;without
it,we would be unable to share knowledge or experiences with anything outside of
ourselves.common forms of communication include speaking,writting,gestures,touchs
and broardcasting.

Components of communication
communication among animals is complex and can be analysed into followings
components;
1.sender-The member which gives off a signal
2.receiver-The individual who is affected by the signal
3-Channel-It is the pathway of passing signal.
4.Noise-Background activity which is emitted ,trasmitted and recived alomg with
signal.
6.Signal-The information in qestion ,that is the stimulus to be transmitted.
7.Code-It includes complete set of languages of possible signals and the contexts.
Evidently,it is the signal which travels, between the sender and the receiver.-

why do insect communicate?

1.Recognition of kin or mates.
2.Loacating or identifying a member of the opposite sex.
3.Facilitaion of coutship and mating.
4.Giving directions for location food.
5.Regulating spatial distribution of individuals,aggregation of
dispersal;establishing and maintaing a territory.
6.Warning of danger,setting off an alarm.
7.Expressing threat or submission.
8.Mimicry.
HOW DO INSECTS COMMUNICATION
Like all other animals ,insects use their five senses to acquire
information about their enviorments ;any of these sensory modalities
may serve as a pathway for the exchange of information.
-Taste and touch are both contact senses,therfore,excgange of
information can occur only when two individual are touching one
another.
-Vision ,olfaction(Smell),and hearing are remotes senses-information
signals may propogate through the air or water over considerable
distances.
-Thus ,an insect may send a communication signal by doing
something(make a noise,relese a chemical,or flash a light)
-The signal may simply be an inhernt part of the insect’s physical
makeup.In either casae ,the signal must elicit some behevior change
in order for a human observer to recognize its existence.
Insects language
Communication is defined as an exchange of information between
two (or more) individuals: the one/s that transmits the message
(emitter) and the one/s that receives and processes that message.
While in humans communication passes through a long learning
process, in insects the same process tends to be an inborn
mechanism: each newborn individual has an specific vocabulary
shared only with organisms of its own species.
On the other hand, we tend to see communication as an obvious
process (if the emitter says “Thank you!” we expect the receptor to
say “You’re welcome” in return). In insects, likewise in other
animals, communication can take place in a way that information
can’t be appreciated for us (humans).
Thus, it’s be better to say that communication is an act or condition
of any part of an organism that alters the behavior of another
organism. What does it means? That the emitter insect sends a
missage to the rest of organisms by doing some action (e.g. an
acoustic signal) or maybe by developing some physical trait which
informs the rest of individual of some stuff (e.g. the color pattern of
wings of some butterflies), in order to induce some answer or
changes on the receptors that would benefit one or both of them.
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
1.Visual communication
2.Tactile communication
3.acoustic communication
4.chemical communication

(A)VISUAL COMMUNICATION

Many insects communicate with visual signals. The color patterns

and other markings on the wings of butterflies and moths facilitate
species recognition in much the same way colored uniforms reveal
the players’ affiliations on a football field.Some insects use bright
colors, eyespots, or other distinctive patterns to scare away
predators, to advertise their ability to sting, or to mimic the
appearance of another unpalatable species. Other insects use dance-
like body movements to attract a mate or to communicate with
nestmates. Most of these signals are effective only as long as they
are visible in daylight. But a few insects (fireflies, for example) can
generate their own light and use visual signals that can be seen at
night.
Passive signals, such as eyespots and color patterns can serve as a form of “free advertising”. The
colorful wings of a butterfly, for example, are a “billboard” publicizing its species identity. Individual
insects incur little or no metabolic cost for displaying these messages because they are an integral part
of the integument. It may be prudent to hide these signals from a potential predator, so some insects
have a way to conceal their message when necessary. The red admiral butterfly, for example, has
bright, distinctive markings on the upper wing surface and drab, protective coloration on the underside.
Active signals, like body movements and light flashes, are more costly to produce, but they can be
withheld from use at inappropriate times. They may also have a higher information content because
signal frequency, duration, or periodicity may convey additional meaning. In fireflies, for example,
pulses of light are used in a courtship dialogue between a male (usually flying) and a female (usually
perched in the vegetation). Each species has a unique flash pattern and response time. Males of
Photinus pyralis emit a single “J”-shape flash during a rising flight movement. A female responds with
a single flash after a two second interval. In Photinus consumilis, males emit a series of 3-5 short
flashes and the females respond with a double flash. Roles are reversed in some tropical species where
the females fly and the males signal from perches in the vegetation.
Unlike humans, many insects have the ability to see ultraviolet light. Not surprisingly, some species
communicate using wavelengths in this part of the spectrum. Female cabbage butterflies, for example,
have ultraviolet-reflecting scales on the dorsal wing surface. When they fly, each downstroke of the
wing creates a brief “flash” of UV that males apparently recognize as the flight signature of a potential
mate. A “flashing female” may attract several males who engage in aerial courship displays. In alfalfa
butterflies, only males have the UV-reflective scales. They flutter in front of the females to create a
flickering courtship display. Missing scales reduce the wings’ reflectivity — a sign of aging that
impairs a male’s ability to seduce a mate.

Type of visual communication

1. The colour patterns and other marking on the wings of
butterflies and moths.
 - The red admiral butterfly,for example ,has bright,distinctive
markings on the upper wing surface and prptective colouration
on the underside
2. some insects communicate by produce light to commubicate
Example of this insects-
Lampyridea in the beetle order coleoptera commnication with light.
(B) TACTILE COMMUNICATION

“Keep in touch!” For you, it’s probably just a metaphor, but for
some insects it’s really a channel of communication. Since many
insects have poor vision and sound perception, physical contact
provides an important avenue of communication. In blister beetles
(family Meloidae), courtship begins with a series of antennal taps by
the male on each side of the female’s body. She signals her
receptivity by lifting her wing covers (elytra) and allowing him to
climb on her back. But to complete his quest, the male must
continue tapping, alternating from side to side at just the right
frequency until the female is stimulated to extend her genitalia and
begin mating.

Antennal tapping is also an essential component of

communication in both ants and termites. It’s not clear exactly what information may be exchanged,
but it certainly involves nestmate recognition and leads to exchange of food through trophallaxis. In
some cases, instantaneous feedback allows the sender to monitor the receiver’s response and alter the
signal if necessary. Antennal tapping on the hind legs is used during tandem running in both ants and
termites. This is a “follow-the-leader” behavior in which the tapping informs the leader that she has
not lost her disciple. If tapping stops, the leader instinctively turns around and searches in ever-
widening circles until she re-establishes contact with the follower.

The “dance” language of honeybees is largely a tactile communication

system, performed in total darkness on the vertical surface of the honeycomb. A “round dance” signals
to nestmates the presence of a nectar source in close proximity to the hive (usually less than 80 feet). It
consists of a series of circular runs with more or less frequent changes in direction. The greater the
frequency of direction changes, the better the quality of the nectar source. The “waggle dance” is used
for longer distances. It involves a figure eight pattern with a series of abdominal waggles on a straight
run after each half-circle turn (see figure at left).
Distance is indicated by the duration of the straight run and the frequency of the waggles. Direction is
indicated by the angle of the straight run (relative to vertical) and corresponds to the horizontal angle
between the sun and the direction of the food source.
Tactile cues generated by ripples on the water surface allow whirligig beetles (family Gyrinidae) to
constantly monitor the location of dozens of other nearby whirligigs. Thanks to this tactile
communication system, the whirligigs can swim rapidly in circles, avoid bumping into other members
of their own species, and still detect the presence of nearby predators or prey.

Certain treehoppers (order Hemiptera: family Membracidae)

produce vibrations in the tissue of their host plant that can be felt by
all other treehoppers on the same plant.The signal travels throughout
the plant in much the same way that banging on water pipes in your
apartment creates noise throughout the whole building.The signals
apparently work as an alarm system, and in some species, they may
be used by nymphs to elicit protective maternal behavior. Substrate
vibrations can be a particularly effective system of communication
for small insects who cannot generate an acoustic signal loud enough
to be heard more than few inches away.
Example of tactile communication-
 • Antennal tapping is an essential component of tactile
communication in both and termites.
• It’s not clear exactly what information may be exchanged,but it
certainly involves nest mate recognition and leads to exchanged
of food through trophallaxis.
• They touch each other’s feelers to exchanfe messages.
Bees communication by dance language..
1.Round dance-like2.waggle dance
ROUND DANCE:
If food is near the hive (less than 90 meters from hive),a scout bee of
the species apis mellifera performs the Round dance .In a round
dance the forger or scout bee turn in circles first to the right and then
to the left.Round dance intimates the recruited workers of hive that
the sources of food is less than 90 meters from hive but gives no
indication of direction.Round dance facilites fellow workers to
search the correct food source by comparing the two smells.
WAGGLE DANCE:
If food is farther than 90 meters away,the stout bee performs waggle
dance.waggle dance indicate both direction and distance of the
source discovered by the forger or stout bees and is regarded as
language of bee. Waggle dance might be performd on the walls of
hive or on horizontal surface at the entranceof the hive.
The dance consisting of different units or words pf honey bee
language ,these units consists of:
• The pattern of the dance is conveying distance information .
• The number of interaction of the dance that bee performs
convey distance information as well.For example 100-10
interaction ,500-6 interaction ,and 1500m-4intarction.
• The liveliness of the dance conveying information about the
quality of the fppd source.
• The angle of the dance conveying the direction of the food
souce.
 • The bee will stop herdance and give out a food sample at other
bee reqest.
• Bee produce a sound to get attention of bees and to keep their
attention.
• The distance measurement by measuring the energy used in the
fly.
( C)ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION
Sound is produced when a physical object vibrates rapidly, disturbs
nearby air molecules (or other surrounding medium), and generates
compression waves that travel in all directions away from the
source.We perceive these waves as sound when they collide with our
ear drum and cause a mechanical disturbance that is detected by
sensory neurons in our inner ear.Both living and non-living objects
produce sound, but only animals use it as a means of
communication.
Sound serves as a very effective communication modality. It can be made to vary in frequency (high
pitch vs. low pitch), amplitude (loudness), and periodicity (the temporal pattern of freqency and
amplitude). Together, these three variables can create an extremely wide and complex range of signals
— from an insect’s mating call to human speech and vocal music. Since sound waves move rapidly
through air (about 331 m/sec), acoustic signals can be quickly started, stopped, or modified to send a
time-sensitive message.
At best, the human ear is able to detect sound frequencies only within the range of about 20-20,000
hertz (vibrations per second). But some insects (as well as other animals like bats and dolphins)
produce and detect sounds that are well above this frequency range. Some grasshoppers and moths, for
example, produce ultrasonic sounds as high as 80,000 hertz. Entomologists study these high-pitch
sounds by using an audio transducer, an electronic device that converts inaudible high frequencies to
lower audible frequencies.
Most insects detect sound with a tympanic membrane in the abdomen (e.g. grasshoppers and moths)
or in the tibiae of the front legs (e.g. crickets and katydids). Mosquitoes have antennal hairs that
resonate to certain frequencies of sound. But sound vibrations can also travel through solid objects,
and some insects (e.g. some species of ants, bees, termites, and treehoppers) can sense substrate
vibrations with mechanoreceptors (chordotonal organs) in their legs. Since these signals are “felt”
rather than “heard”, they are usually regarded as a form of tactile communication.
Stridulation – rubbing one part of the body against another part
Field Cricket
Mole Cricket

Katydid
Tymbals – muscular vibration of drum-like membranes
Periodical Cicada
 Dogday Cicada

Knocking or tapping
Deathwatch Beetle
Hissing – forcing air through spiracles
Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

Wing Vibration
 Mosquito

Audio Player

Braconid Parasite
 Honey Bee

Sound are caused by vibration that can pass through air, water and
sound structures.
There are many insects that can make sounds.
They don’t have vocal cords like peaple but they have other ways of
producings sounds.
WAYS OF PRODUCINGS SOUNDS--
◦ Stridulation – rubbing one part of the body against another
part
(Field cricket,mole cricket,katydid)
◦ Tymbals – muscular vibration of drum-like membranes
(Periodical Cicada,Dogday Cicada)
•

◦ Knocking or tapping
(Deathwatch Beetle)
•

Hissing – forcing air through spiracles

(Madagascar Hissing Cockroach)
◦ Wing Vibration
(Mosquito,Braconid Parasite,Honey )

(D)CHEMICAL COMMUNICATION
It is the most common way of insect communication.These
chemicals are divided are into 2 groups:
1. Pheromone:- Chemicals signals that carry information from one
individual to another ,member of the same species .Theses
 includeds sex attractants ,alarm substances and many other
intra-specific message.
2. Allelomere:-Chemical signals that travel betwwen individual of
different species .Theses includes defensive signals such as
repellents compounds used to locae suitble host plant,and other
signalss to regulate inter-specific behaviours.
FUNTION OF PHEROMONE
1.Queen bee emit pheromones that affects the developments of
worker bee.
2.Ant use pheromone to recruit nest mates to a food source.
3.Whwn laying eggs,some flies moths and beetles use certain
pheromones to repel insects of the same and competing
species,therby protecting their progeny.
4.Aphides give alarm pheromone that urge neighbouring aphids to
flee from nearby predators.

TYPES OF PHEROMONE

Bruce(1970) had recognised following three types of main

pheromone:
1.RELEASER PHEROMONE—Theses pheromone induces
immidiate and reversible behavioral responces mediated directly by
the central nervous system through first acting on neurohumoral
pathways.Thesesare used mainly in recognition of species
members,sex,xesual status,aggression,ejection of milk.
It are six types:
➢ Sex pheromone:

Sex pheromones are pheromones released by an organism to attract

an individual of the opposite sex, encourage them to mate with them,
or perform some other function closely related with sexual
reproduction. Sex pheromones specifically focus on indicating
females for breeding, attracting the opposite sex, and conveying
information on their species, age, sex and genotype after emitted by
males. Volatile pheromones are characterized as sex pheromones or
defensive pheromones and usually form a specific odor and are
focused on alarm sensitivity.[1] Non-volatile pheromones, or
cuticular contact pheromones, are more closely related to social
insects as they are usually detected by direct contact with
chemoreceptors on specific parts of insects (i.e. antennae, feet).
eg..pink bollwarm-gossyplure
Helicoverpa armigera-heliura

➢ Aggregation pheromone:Aggregation pheromones are

important semiochemicals in insects that play a key role in
mating and other social behavior. Many chemicals, including
hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, acids,
anhydrides, amines, and nitriles, have been identified as insect
aggregation pheromones, however, understanding of their
potential utility in pest management is still limited. Aggregation
pheromones have been found in eggs, larvae and adults,
however, some volatiles from host plants have been regarded as
pheromone components. Aggregation pheromones of the same
species in different stages of the life-cycle can be distinct, and
the same semiochemical may induce different behavior in
different developmental stages or physical states. Nevertheless,
the aggregation of insects can be regulated by semiochemicals
such as kairomone, sex pheromone and alarm pheromone.
Understanding of insect aggregation pheromones is still
inadequate and determining the precise function of these
chemicals requires further research.
exp ..Bark beetle start to bore inti the bak and relese a long range
aggregation pheromone.
Coxa beetle also founds.
• DISPERSAL PHEROMONE
Insects curls its body, so the stored pheromone ehich is in
contact with cuticle will disperse.e.g. antennaeto avoid
interspecific or betwwen the member for competition because
resource is limited.
e.g.- Bark female beetle,Tetraphoridea(frouit fly)
ALARM PHEROMONE

Alarm pheromones are defined as chemical substances, produced

and released by an organism, that warn or alert another of the same
species of impending danger. This is exemplified by many species of
aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in which the pheromone is caused to
be released by attack, for example, by predators, with ensuing
dispersal by which individual aphids may avoid a subsequent attack.
However, the term alarm pheromone also is employed when the
responding individuals are stimulated to show aggression towards
the attacking agent. This is common in the social Hymenoptera; for
example, the honeybee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), and
many ant species respond aggressively to their alarm pheromones .

Some species relese a volatile substance when attrack apredator that

can trigger flight or aggregation .
Example..aphides,ants,termites.

TRIAL PHEROMONE
Trail pheromones are semiochemicals secreted from the body of an
individual to impact the behavior of another individual receiving it.
Trail pheromones often serve as a multi purpose chemical secretion
that leads members of its own species towards a food source, while
representing a territorial mark in the form of an allomone to
organisms outside of their species.[1] Specifically, trail pheromones
are often incorporated with secretions of more than one exocrine
gland to produce a higher degree of specificity.[2] Considered one of
the primary chemical signaling methods in which many social
insects depend on, trail pheromone deposition can be considered one
of the main facets to explain the success of social insect
communication today. Many species of ants, including those in the
genus Crematogaster use trail pheromones.
EMAPLE:ant marktheir paths with those pheromones, which are
volatile hydrocarbons.certain ant lay down an initial trial of
pheromone as they return to nest with food.This trail attracts other
ants serves as aguide.

FUNERAL PHEROMONE
Dead ants produce this pheromone that stimulate other live colony
members to removr them to a pics outside the nest.
Exaple..it shown in social insects(ants)

CONCLUSION
• Insects have well defined communication system which rely
more on chemical communication on the form of pheromones
for mate finding and aggregation.
• Insects synthesis their own pheromone from the bye products of
metabolic activity especially from fattyacid metabolism and
theses reactions are catalyzed by the enzymes.
• The suecces rely on the reception by its conspecifics .
 • These properties of pheromone can be eploited for attracting the
crop pesr by formulating and used for better crop protection.

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