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Acoustic response to a pheromonal cue in the arctiid moth Pyrrharctia Isabella
Author(s) -
KRASNOFF STUART B.,
YAGER DAVID D.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1988.tb01127.x
Subject(s) - biology , courtship , sex pheromone , lepidoptera genitalia , pheromone , sexual behavior , stimulus (psychology) , sound pressure , zoology , acoustics , ecology , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , psychology , physics
. The acoustic properties of the clicks emitted in response to male courtship pheromone by female Pyrrharctia Isabella (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) have been investigated. Extracts of male scent organs or synthetic male pheromones can be applied to a glass rod and used to stimulate females to produce these sounds. Power spectra, sound pressure readings, and oscillographic analyses show that the acoustic signals elicited by male extracts or synthetic male pheromones are not distinguishable from those produced in response to disturbance (handling). This is the first reported example of a sound produced by a female moth in a sexual context, and is the first reported example in moths of an acoustic response to a pheromonal stimulus.