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. In new research, paleontologists from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and elsewhere analyzed the earliest tympanal ears and sound-producing systems (stridulatory apparatus) found in exceptionally preserved Mesozoic katydids. Their results show that katydids are the earliest known animals to have evolved complex acoustic communication, acoustic niche partitioning, and high-frequency musical calls.
The production of acoustic signals is one of the most important behavioral adaptions in animal communication, and the sending and receiving messages using sound is essential for the survival and success of many animals.
Acoustic communication can be defined as the transmission of messages via airborne sound waves and is enabled by specialized hearing and sound-producing organs.
It is widespread in two disparate extant animal groups: insects and vertebrates, the latter including frogs, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Insects were the first terrestrial animals to use air-borne sound signals for long-distance communication. They display an extremely high diversity of auditory systems and sound-producing organs.
For example, tympanal ears have evolved at least 18 times independently in diverse species of seven living insect orders, involving at least 15 body locations.
Among acoustically signaling insects, katydids stand out as an ideal model to investigate the evolution of acoustic organs and behavior.
Male katydids produce sounds through friction between specialized veins of the forewings, and these sounds are received by males and females primarily through the ears.
In the new study, Chunpeng Xu and colleagues found well-preserved…
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