Patterns of thermal sensitivity and sex-specificity of courtship behavior differs between two sympatric species of Enchenopa treehopper

Predicting how insects will react to future thermal conditions requires
understanding how temperature currently affects insect behavior, from
performance traits to those involved in mating and reproduction. Many
reproductive behaviors are thermally-sensitive, but little is known how
temperature affects the behaviors used to find mates and coordinate
mating. Here, we investigate how temperature influences courtship activity
in two sympatric species of Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera:
Membracidae). Enchenopa use substrate-borne vibrational signals
exchanged in male-female duets to facilitate pair formation prior to
mating. In a controlled laboratory setting, we assessed the likelihood of
males and females to produce courtship signals across a range of
ecologically relevant temperatures. We found that changes in courtship
activity across temperatures differed between the two species. We
also found sex differences within species: in one species males were more
likely to signal at higher temperatures, while in the other species
females were more likely to signal at higher temperatures. Our results
suggest that sex-specific responses to temperature may constrain mating to
narrower ranges of temperatures. Furthermore, sympatric species may
respond differently to changes in thermal variation despite sharing
similar climactic history.