10.5061/DRYAD.0HM88
Balenger, Susan L.
University of Minnesota
Zuk, Marlene
University of Minnesota
Data from: Roaming Romeos: male crickets evolving in silence show
increased locomotor behaviours
Dryad
dataset
2015
Teleogryllus oceanicus
signal loss
2015-12-23T00:00:00Z
2015-12-23T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.12.023
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Loss of sexual signals should be strongly selected against when these
signals are necessary for mate attraction or acquisition. Male
Teleogryllus oceanicus field crickets produce a long-distance calling song
to attract females. Separate genetic mutations recently evolved on the
Hawaiian Islands of Kauai and Oahu, rendering approximately 90% and 50% of
males, respectively, incapable of calling. We examined whether males from
three populations, each with a distinct prevalence of this silent
‘flatwing’ phenotype, show behavioural plasticity in response to being
reared in a call-less environment. Crickets from Kauai, Oahu and Mangaia,
a Cook Islands population without the flatwing phenotype, either were or
were not exposed to calling song during late juvenile and early adult
development. Movement assays showed that when males originating from Kauai
were reared in silence, they moved sooner, moved more and spent more time
walking during silent behaviour trials than did their counterparts reared
with calling song. Males from Oahu and Mangaia, however, showed no such
effect of acoustic rearing environment on these behaviours. This suggests
that there has been directional selection on Kauai for males to respond to
a silent environment by increasing their mobility, thus compensating for
their lack of song and increasing their chance of encountering receptive
females.
Balenger_DataDryadFile contains movement behavior data and morphological
data (size and wing morph) for each individual used in this study.
Cook Islands
Hawaii