A researcher is detailing why a recently rediscovered species of bushcricket has an unusually loud and ultra-high frequency calling song. Ben Chivers, who is studying animal behaviour at the University of Lincoln, UK, co-authored the paper which illustrates the process in which the katydid or bushcricket Arachnoscelis arachnoides produces sound.

This bushcricket may be tiny, but males chirp as loud as a power saw to attract females.

 

Using highly calibrated microphones, researchers recorded male bushcrickets in Colombia singing at frequencies of about 74 kilohertz. The human ear can hear in a range of about 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz.

The males produce sound through "stridulation," or rubbing their wings together. One wing acts as a scraper to rub against a row of teeth-like grooves on the other wing.

(Watch a video of the bushcricket chirping.)