Phonotaxis
Guides
Acheta
house crickets, field crickets
Acheta is a genus of field crickets (Gryllidae) containing approximately 17 described species, with Acheta domesticus (house cricket) being the most widely known and economically significant. The genus is distributed across the Palaearctic realm and North America, with A. domesticus achieving cosmopolitan distribution through human activity. Species in this genus are characterized by their stridulatory communication, with males producing species-specific calling songs to attract females. The house cricket serves as a major source of animal feed, fish bait, and increasingly as human food, though its cultivation faces challenges from Acheta domesticus Densovirus (AdDNV).
Acheta domesticus
House Cricket, European House Cricket
Acheta domesticus, the house cricket, is a widely distributed cricket species likely native to Southwestern Asia but now found globally through human commerce. The species has been kept in captivity since at least the 1700s and is considered highly domesticated. It serves as the primary cricket species in the global pet food industry, raised as feed for reptiles, amphibians, birds, and arthropods. The species has been severely impacted by Acheta domesticus Densovirus (AdDNV), a highly virulent and environmentally resistant pathogen that has caused widespread mortality in commercial breeding facilities and driven industry shifts toward alternative cricket species.
Cephalops
A genus of small flies in the family Pipunculidae with cosmopolitan distribution. Species are known to be endoparasitoids of planthoppers (Hemiptera: Delphacidae). Adult females locate hosts by detecting substrate-borne vibrations produced by host calls. The genus contains over 150 described species, with new species continuing to be described from under-sampled regions.
Corethrella
frog-biting midges
Corethrella is the sole genus in the family Corethrellidae, comprising 132 extant and 10 fossil species. These midges are unique among Diptera in using acoustic cues to locate hosts. Adult females are hematophagous and feed on frog blood, while larvae are aquatic predators. The genus has a predominantly pantropical distribution with fossil records extending to the Lower Cretaceous.
Corethrellidae
frog-biting midges
Corethrellidae are a family of tiny hematophagous flies in the order Diptera. The family contains a single genus, Corethrella, with approximately 105 extant and seven fossil species worldwide. Females are obligate external parasites of frogs, locating hosts by eavesdropping on male anuran mating calls using their Johnston's organ. The family has a fossil record extending to the Lower Cretaceous, approximately 110 million years ago.
Culex territans
Northern Frog-biting Mosquito
Culex territans, commonly known as the Northern Frog-biting Mosquito, is a mosquito species with a nearly exclusive feeding relationship with amphibians, particularly frogs. Adult females are strongly attracted to frog vocalizations and exhibit temporal and spatial synchrony with their amphibian hosts. The species is a confirmed vector for multiple amphibian pathogens, including Giant Anuran Trypanosomes, Hepatozoon species, and potentially Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Unlike many Culex species, it poses minimal direct threat to human health due to its host preferences, though it has been found infected with West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus.
Gryllinae
Field Crickets
Gryllinae, commonly known as field crickets, is a subfamily of true crickets in the family Gryllidae. These insects are characterized by their ability to produce sound through stridulation of the forewings, with males generating species-specific calling songs to attract females. Field crickets exhibit hemimetabolous development, with nymphs undergoing multiple molts before reaching adulthood. The subfamily includes numerous genera distributed worldwide, with many species serving as important model organisms in studies of behavioral ecology, neurophysiology, and evolutionary biology.
Gryllus lineaticeps
Variable Field Cricket
Gryllus lineaticeps, the variable field cricket, is a North American field cricket species distinguished by its flexible mate-searching behavior. Females exhibit phonotaxis toward male calling songs and adjust their preferences based on acoustic experience, rejecting lower-quality songs after exposure to more attractive alternatives. Males produce energetically costly calls, with oxygen consumption increasing 2.7 times basal rates during chirping. The species undergoes flight muscle histolysis during the transition from dispersal to reproduction, with autophagy selectively breaking down dorsal longitudinal flight muscles while preserving dorsoventral muscles for walking. Thermal preferences vary across the diel cycle and shift in response to starvation, reflecting life history trade-offs between activity and energy conservation.
Gryllus rubens
Southeastern field cricket
Gryllus rubens, the southeastern field cricket, is a trilling field cricket native to the southeastern United States. It is a cryptic sister species to G. texensis, from which it originated via peripatric speciation. The species exhibits remarkable phenotypic plasticity in its communication system, with male calling songs and female preferences shifting reversibly between spring and fall generations in response to temperature. Wing polymorphism is environmentally and genetically influenced, with long-winged morphs appearing in spring/summer and short-winged morphs predominating in autumn/winter.
Neoconocephalus triops
Broad-tipped Conehead
Neoconocephalus triops, commonly known as the broad-tipped conehead, is a large katydid species in the family Tettigoniidae. It has a wide geographic distribution spanning from Peru to Ohio, USA, including the Caribbean and North America. Females use male pulse rate and call structure for mate recognition, with documented geographic variation in signal preferences between populations. Puerto Rican females show high selectivity for pulse rate but not call structure, while Costa Rican females prefer versed calls and show temperature-dependent selectivity for pulse rate.
Ormia
Ormia is a genus of nocturnal tachinid flies renowned for their exceptional sound localization abilities. Females are phonotactic parasitoids that locate hosts by detecting calling songs, then deposit larvae on or near crickets and katydids. The genus has become a model system in auditory neuroscience and bioinspired engineering due to its mechanically coupled ears that achieve directional precision rivaling human hearing despite minute interaural distances. Research has focused primarily on Ormia ochracea, though multiple species have been studied for biological control applications.
Ormia brevicornis
Ormia brevicornis is a species of tachinid fly in the tribe Ormiini. It is a known parasitoid of katydids in the genus Neoconocephalus. The species was described by Townsend in 1919 and occurs in the United States. Two subspecies are recognized: O. b. brevicornis and O. b. nuttingi.
Ormia ochracea
Ormia ochracea is a small yellow nocturnal tachinid fly renowned for its exceptional directional hearing and acoustic parasitism of field crickets. Females locate singing male crickets through phonotaxis, then deposit planidial larvae that develop internally and kill the host within approximately 7 days. The fly's auditory system employs mechanically coupled tympanal membranes that amplify nanosecond-scale interaural time differences, enabling sound localization precision comparable to humans despite an interear distance of less than 1 mm. This unique physiology has made O. ochracea a prominent model organism for auditory neuroscience and bioinspired microphone design.
Ormiini
Ormiini is a tribe of tachinid flies distinguished by their specialized acoustic hunting behavior. Females possess a prothoracic tympanal hearing organ that enables phonotaxis toward the calling songs of host orthopterans. They are parasitoids of crickets and bush-crickets, depositing planidial larvae on or near hosts. The tribe includes approximately seven genera distributed across multiple continents.
Pterophylla
true katydid
Pterophylla is a genus of true katydids in the family Tettigoniidae, containing approximately five described species distributed primarily in North America. The genus is best known for the northern true katydid (P. camellifolia), whose distinctive "katy-did, katy-didn't" call is a familiar sound of late summer evenings in deciduous forests. Males of this genus produce complex acoustic signals including solo calling, alternating calling with neighboring males, aggressive sounds, and disturbance sounds, with well-studied phonoresponse behavior involving reciprocal inhibition and post-inhibitory excitation.
Uranotaenia lowii
Pale-footed Uranotaenia
Uranotaenia lowii is a frog-biting mosquito distributed across the Americas. The species exhibits a unique phonotactic behavior: females are attracted to the acoustic calls of male frogs, specifically the barking tree frog (Hyla gratiosa). This represents the first documented case of a female mosquito being attracted to host sound rather than visual or chemical cues. The species inhabits lowland environments and has been documented using 450 Hz frequency detection via antennae to locate hosts.