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Photoperiodically determined dimorphic calling songs in a katydid

Abstract

MALES of most species of katydids (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) make calling songs that attract conspecific females1–4. These songs, like those of crickets, cicadas, and some grasshoppers, are species specific and can be produced in perfect form by males that have never heard a similar song5. The fact that insect calling songs are the same even though conditions during their development varied from generation to generation and between field and laboratory has led to the inference that the ontogeny of such songs is free of environmental modification6. We show here, however, that the calling songs of a katydid are dimorphic and photoperiodically determined.

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WHITESELL, J., WALKER, T. Photoperiodically determined dimorphic calling songs in a katydid. Nature 274, 887–888 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/274887a0

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