Insects and other arthropods stridulate by rubbing together two parts of the body. These are referred to generically as the stridulatory organs, though in many groups the entire structure is called a stridulitrum. The mechanism is best known in crickets and grasshoppers, but other insects which stridulate include Scolytinae (bark beetles), Cerambycidae (longhorned beetles), Mutillidae ("velvet ants"), Reduviidae ("assassin bugs"), Glaresidae ("enigmatic scarabs"), the Black imported fire ant (Solenopsis richteri), larval Lucanidae (stag beetles), Passalidae (Bessbugs), Geotrupidae (earth-boring dung beetles) and some species of Agromyzidae (leaf-mining flies). Stridulation is also known in some species of millipede (class Diplopoda).
The mechanism is typically that of one structure with a well-defined lip or ridge (the "scraper") being moved across a finely-ridged surface (the "file"), and vibrating as it does so, like the dragging of a phonograph needle across a vinyl record.
Stridulation in several of these examples is for attracting a mate, or as a form of territorial behaviour, but can also be a warning signal (acoustic aposematism, as in velvet ants). This kind of communication was first described by Slovenian biologist Ivan Regen (1868-1947).
Tags: Morphology & Physiology | Behaviour
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