Variation in acoustic signals within and among leafhopper species of the genus Alebra (Homoptera, Cicadellidae)
1992
GILLHAM, MALCOLM C.
Acoustic behaviour was studied in the four species of Alebra Fieber leafhoppers found in Britain, which are morphologically the closest in the genus: A. wahlbergi (Boheman), A. coryli Le Quesne, A. albostriella (Fallen) and A. viridis Rey. One male call, of a diagnostic structure and produced in all behavioural contexts observed, was recorded for each species. No female acoustic signals were identified. Using male call pattern the three species of Alebra coexisting on Castanea sativa Miller in Kastanitsa, southern Greece, were identified as A. wahlbergi, A. albostriella and A. viridis. Individuals of A. viridis from Kastanitsa had more pronounced external pigmentation than those from Cardiff, South Wales. Discriminant and principal component analysis on variables of the male call of A. viridis distinguished the populations from Cardiff and Kastanitsa, but could not differentiate populations from the two British host plants, Quercus petraea and Q. cerris, in Cardiff. The British and Greek populations differed in the covariation as well as the duration of call components. Castanea sativa was also recognized as a host plant of A. viridis in Cardiff. Individuals collected from C. saliva had external patterning in the same range of variation as that found for individuals from species of Quercus. Present evidence strongly suggests that divergence in the acoustic species recognition signals of Alebra is occurring among geographic rather than sympatric host plant-associated populations.
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