Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026

A Concoction Pipeline for Generating Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) Among Riparian and Aquatic Beetles
Published on: July 11, 2025
Singing and cryptic speciation insects
1Charles Henry is as the Dept of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, U-43, 75 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
Abstract:
Biologists have long known of the existence of 'inaudible' songs in insects, but recent work has shown such substrate-borne or near-field signals to be virtually ubiquitous, and often correlated with high numbers of sibling species. In a sexual context, silent singing has the formidable advantage of privacy: neither predators nor sexual competitors can listen and disrupt. Privacy enhances species recognition by promoting signal complexity. It also encourages the evolution of intricate signals in females as well as males, leading to obligatory dueting behavior during pair formation. Current evidence suggests that song divergence in dueting taxa can facilitate rapid, sympatric speciation.
Related Concept Videos
Genetics of Speciation
Formation of Species
Speciation Rates
Understanding Species and Reproductive Barriers
Convergent Evolution
Hybrid Zones

