Abstract
CRICKETS have auditory organs at the proximal ends of the fore-tibiae; the binaural sensory input enables orientation to a sound source and in response to sound, crickets turn towards the more intensely stimulated of their two ears1. Airborne vibrations activate the auditory tympana of the ears, and are communicated to sensory scolopidia attached to the outer surface of the leg trachea, which forms an air space behind the tympanum2,3. For directionally-sensitive hearing, the responses of the two ears should differ when the direction of incident sound forms an angle with the insect's body axis. Directional hearing in crickets has previously been attributed to shielding of the contralateral ear by the insect's body4. We believe that shielding is insufficient to account for observed directionality, and propose an alternative theory which predicts the directional sensitivity of the cricket auditory system measured physiologically.
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HILL, K., BOYAN, G. Directional hearing in crickets. Nature 262, 390–391 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/262390a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/262390a0
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