High acoustic diversity and behavioral complexity of katydids in the Mesozoic soundscape
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Issue Date
2022-12-15Author
Xu, Chunpeng
Wang, Bo
Wappler, Torsten
Chen, Jun
Kopylov, Dmitry
Fang, Yan
Jarzembowski, Edmund A.
Zhang, Haichun
Engel, Michael S.
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Rights
Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).
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Acoustic communication has played a key role in the evolution of a wide variety of vertebrates and insects. However, the reconstruction of ancient acoustic signals is challenging due to the extreme rarity of fossilized organs. Here, we report the earliest tympanal ears and sound-producing system (stridulatory apparatus) found in exceptionally preserved Mesozoic katydids. We present a database of the stridulatory apparatus and wing morphology of Mesozoic katydids and further calculate their probable singing frequencies and analyze the evolution of their acoustic communication. Our suite of analyses demonstrates that katydids evolved complex acoustic communication including mating signals, intermale communication, and directional hearing, at least by the Middle Jurassic. Additionally, katydids evolved a high diversity of singing frequencies including high-frequency musical calls, accompanied by acoustic niche partitioning at least by the Late Triassic, suggesting that acoustic communication might have been an important driver in the early radiation of these insects. The Early—Middle Jurassic katydid transition from Haglidae- to Prophalangopsidae-dominated faunas coincided with the diversification of derived mammalian clades and improvement of hearing in early mammals, supporting the hypothesis of the acoustic coevolution of mammals and katydids. Our findings not only highlight the ecological significance of insects in the Mesozoic soundscape but also contribute to our understanding of how acoustic communication has influenced animal evolution.
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Citation
Xu, C., Wang, B., Wappler, T., Chen, J., Kopylov, D., Fang, Y., Jarzembowski, E. A., Zhang, H., & Engel, M. S. (2022). High acoustic diversity and behavioral complexity of katydids in the Mesozoic soundscape. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(51), e2210601119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210601119
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