Crickets are not just musicians, but true masters of a complex courtship performance. A study published by Slovenian researchers has revealed how males put on an elaborate vibroacoustic display for females before mating, which consists of singing and dancing.

As part of the Slovenian research team at the National Institute of Biology, considered a pioneer and leader in the field of vibrational animal communication or biotremology, researchers Nataša Stritih Peljhan and Alenka Žunič Kosi studied the sexual behaviour of the house cricket (Acheta domesticus).

They revealed that their love song consists not only of the sound produced by the characteristic wing rubbing or stridulation but also includes vibrational signals inaudible to the human ear. The males emit these signals by swaying their bodies and drumming their legs against the ground in precise synchronisation with the acoustic signals in a prolonged display, unique among insects.

This energetically and motorically demanding vibroacoustic performance allows females to assess the quality of potential mates. Both its intensity and coherence serve as an indicator of the physical fitness and quality of the males, according to their study, published in the renowned journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology.

These complex ways of communicating help understand how animals choose their mates, while also providing insights into the evolution and development of their courtship rituals and habits.

The study, in which the researchers employed audio recording, laser vibrometry, and videorecording, is ground-breaking because it reveals a hitherto hidden complexity in the sexual behaviour of crickets, which have been a model group for animal acoustic communication research for decades, the National Institute of Biology says.

Due to human perception of the world primarily through auditory and visual stimuli, the aspect of communication through vibration against the substrate has been completely overlooked.

However, it is increasingly clear that for many animals, from elephants to insects, these stimuli are at least as or even more important as sound in conveying messages. This aspect of animal communication is being studied by biotremology.