Data from: Purring crickets: the evolution of a novel sexual signal

Opportunities to observe contemporary signal change are incredibly rare,
but critical for understanding how diversity is created and maintained. We
discovered a population of the Pacific field cricket (Teleogryllus
oceanicus) with a newly evolved song (“purring”), different from any known
cricket. Male crickets use song to attract females from afar and to court
females once near. Teleogryllus oceanicus is well-known for sexual signal
evolution, as exemplified by a recent signal loss. In this study, we
characterized the new purring sound and investigated the role of the purr
in long distance and short distance communication. The purring sound
differed from typical ancestral calls in peak frequency, amplitude, and
bandwidth. Further, the long-distance purring song facilitated mate
location, though the role of courtship purring song is less clear. Our
discovery of purring male crickets is an unprecedented opportunity to
watch the emergence of a newly evolved sexual signal unfold in real time,
and has potential to illuminate the mechanisms by which evolutionary
novelties arise and coevolve between the sexes.