Short-range vibrational communication in Rhopalidae with implications for Hemipteran acoustic evolution: affection or antagonism?

Acoustic and vibrational communication are important in sexual, social and defensive behaviors in a large diversity of insects. The context of signaling, the participation of individuals in signaling as well as the elicited response gives researchers clues to understanding the function of a signal. Here, we report coordinated acoustic and vibrational communication in the soapberry bug, Jadera haemataloma and use behavioral contexts to address key hypotheses for the role of communication in Hemiptera. Signaling in Jadera haematoloma occurs in the absence of young, by adults of either gender at the start of a physical encounter with a conspecific, though only a single participant in an encounter produces a signal. Ant, roach, and mechanical-simulated threats failed to initiate signaling in solitary individuals despite initiating avoidance behavior and a chemical response. Gender, density, mate-receptivity, novelty, and aggregation formation each showed unique effects on the “loudness” of encounters between two individuals and encounter outcome. Our data suggest that J. haematoloma communication has been multiply recruited for use in the social, cannibalistic, and mate-competitive arenas typical of a single generation’s life history.