Sexual Behavior In North American Cicadas Of The Genera Magicicada And Okanagana

This volume provides a comprehensive selection of recent studies addressing insect hearing and acoustic communication. The variety of signalling behaviours and hearing organs makes insects highly suitable animals for exploring and analysing signal generation and hearing in the context of neural processing, ecology, evolution and genetics. Across a variety of hearing species like moths, crickets, bush-crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas and flies, the leading researchers in the field cover recent scientific progress and address key points in current research, such as: - How can we approach the evolution of hearing in insects and what is the developmental and neural origin of the auditory organs? - How are hearing and sound production embedded in the natural lifestyle of the animals, allowing intraspecific communication but also predator avoidance and even predation? - What are the functional properties of hearing organs and how are they achieved at the molecular, biophysical and neural levels? - What are the neural mechanisms of central auditory processing and signal generation? The book is intended for students and researchers both inside and outside of the fascinating field of bioacoustics and aims to foster understanding of hearing and acoustic communication in insects.

This book explores mate-finding and courtship behaviour in the insect world, in all its subtlety and diversity. Insects engage in courtship as much, or as little, as any other animal; they have songs and dances, and all manner of instruments and ornaments to attract and court the opposite sex. Insects have evolved complex chemical and acoustic communication systems, sending fragrant messages, visual signals and subtle vibrations to attract and persuade. Insects also have many different ways and means of choosing or rejecting mating partners. This beautifully illustrated book shows the incredible variety of courtship behaviours and celebrates the wonderful natural history of a wide range of insects. Varieties of courtship can occur before, during and even after copulation, and numerous examples of the different mating strategies used are presented. This landmark volume will be of interest to students of biology, entomologists, naturalists and anyone with a desire to know more about the love lives of the small creatures with which we share the planet.

The authors of the Thomas Say monograph The Cicadas of North America North of Mexico return with a revised and expanded edition of their bestselling work, presented in full color. The new edition includes 172 species and 22 subspecies of cicadas found in continental North America north of Mexico, representing 18 genera from eight tribes in three subfamilies within the family Cicadidae. The higher taxonomy is updated from the first edition, based on more recently proposed taxa. Information on the distribution of each species is now provided.