Madrid. The sound of an insect kept in a museum has been heard for the first time in 150 years after scientists digitally recreated its ringtone.
The body shape and song of Prohalangopsis obscura could help clue researchers to where the insect might be living after being lost for more than a century.
The grasshopper-like insect is known from a single specimen found in the collection of the Natural History Museum. Profalangopsisobscura, first described in 1869, has never been officially seen since, although there are reports that a pair was captured in 2005.
But by recreating this species’ long-lost call, the researchers hope it can be used to find the insect in the wild, if it still survives.
Ed Baker, a bioacoustics researcher at the museum, is co-author of a new paper recreating the call of P. obscura. “While we are only dealing with one specimen, it is one of the few surviving species of a group of grasshopper and cricket relatives that likely dominated during the Jurassic,” he said in a statement.
“Comparing this species with modern relatives is interesting because it has large wings, suggesting it is capable of extensive flight, and sings a low-pitched song that travels long distances. Together with its habit of living outdoors, these characteristics should make it an ideal target for bats because it’s easier to spot.”
“Its survival since the Jurassic suggests that it currently lives in an environment without free-flying insect-eating bats.”
This may give some clues as to which regions researchers should be looking in the search for this long-forgotten species. The study findings were published in PLOS ONE.
Grasshoppers are a group of insects that are part of the Orthoptera, which contains all crickets, locusts, and grasshoppers.
These animals produce songs using stridulation, rubbing body parts such as wings and feet together to produce sound.
Males generally use these noises to attract females during the summer as part of the breeding season, although females of some species do stride under certain circumstances.
The last time the sound of P.obscura was clearly identified in the wild was more than a century ago. The only known specimen of the insect was presented to the museum by British Army officer Sir John Bennet Hearsay, and the species was later scientifically described by Francis Walker in 1869.
Despite repeated attempts, the species has never been seen again. This is partly due to its labelling, as the specimen was labeled as coming from “Hindustan”, which researchers believe is generally synonymous with the area of India under colonial rule by Britain.
That was until 2005, when two female bugs that looked similar to the male P. obscura were collected in Tibet. It cannot be known with certainty if these insects are part of the same species, or a closely related one, due to the differences in sex between the specimens. If they were found living together, it could help confirm the identity of the Tibetan grasshoppers.
To try to find out more about where the species might still live, the researchers created 3D images of each wing and determined its resonance frequency. With this information, the team was able to recreate what the bug song might have sounded like.
“Insect sounds can be linked to their evolutionary history,” says Baker. “You can examine why species have certain song frequencies, which may be to avoid overlapping with each other, and how song structure reflects their environment and development.”
In the case of P.obscura, its deep song can be explained by its environment. Bats tend to avoid cold areas through migration and hibernation, which would allow grasshoppers to fly freely without risk of being eaten.
Therefore, the cold climate of northern India and Tibet may be suitable places for this insect to live, which could help scientists rediscover the species.
The recreated song allows P.obscura to join a multitude of insects whose songs have been recorded by the museum and are part of a sound archive. Baker helped make many of these recordings more widely available as he explored the collections.
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