Ağaç zıplayan böceklerin düetleri gizli bir iletişim kanalını açığa çıkarıyor

Treehoppers communicate through plant stems rather than through sounds audible to humans. By gripping a stem and rapidly moving their abdomens, the insects create vibrations that others detect through their legs. Smithsonian researcher Judith Smit is studying courtship in Guayaquila gracilicornis, a common Panamanian species. A male sends a distinctive signal and a receptive female replies, producing a duet that helps the partners locate one another and continually adjust their behaviour. This interaction challenges accounts of courtship that treat females as passive receivers of male displays. In laboratory enclosures, Smit and her students record small movements with accelerometers and a laser Doppler vibrometer. They also play altered signals back through plants to test whether changes in pitch or duration affect the insects’ responses. Because vibrational communication is widespread among insects but remains understudied, the work may reveal how flexible behaviour influences mate choice and how small animals adapt their signals to human-driven changes such as noise, artificial light and warming.