A combination of fieldwork and laboratory experiments was used to test the hypothesis that predators can intercept and exploit sexual communication signals of their prey. First, we developed and characterized PCR primers specific for leafhoppers of the genus Aphrodes and specifically for the species A. makarovi. Spiders were collected from sites where leafhoppers were present and screened with these primers to establish which spider species were significant predators of this species during the mating period of these leafhoppers. Analysis using PCR of the gut contents of tangle-web spiders, Enoplognatha ovata (Theridiidae), showed that they consume leafhoppers in the field at a greater rate when signalling adults were present than when nymphs were dominant, suggesting that the spiders were using these vibrations signals to find their prey. Playback and microcosm experiments then showed that E. ovata can use the vibrational signals of male leafhoppers as a cue during foraging and, as a result, killed significantly more male than female A. makarovi.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2349903
Primers were developed for leafhoppers of the genus Aphrodes amplifying 84–244 bp fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. DNA was extracted from legs of over 100year old archived museum specimens, amplified and sequenced. The fragments contain sufficient variation to unequivocally identify the different species. The majority of the analysed museum specimens, including three specimens of the syntype series for the UK endemic species A. aestuarina (Edwards 1908), were found to have been assigned to the wrong species.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2363471
We investigated vibrational signals and mate searching behaviour of the leafhopper A. makarovi. Males emitted long and complex calling signals composed of several sections. Female reply was long and always overlapped the end of the male call. The exchange of male and female vibrational signals was a complex and dynamic interaction during which both partners modified their signals according to partner’s reply. The duration of female reply was influenced by the duration of the male call to which she was responding, while the duration of male call was influenced by the duration of the previous female reply. Such relationship suggests the role of sexual selection in the evolution of male vibrational signals.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1163615
We compared the mate searching strategies of southern green stinkbug Nezara viridula and the leafhopper Aphrodes makarovi. Changes in temporal parameters of female replies had negative effect on the searching behaviour of A. makarovi. Males located the source of longer female replies faster than the short female call and they failed to locate the source of a female reply with temporal parameters outside the species-specific values.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2423631