Data from: In that vein: inflated wing veins contribute to butterfly hearing

Insects have evolved a diversity of hearing organs specialized to detect sounds critical for survival. We report on a unique structure on butterfly wings that enhances hearing. The Satyrini are a diverse group of butterflies occurring throughout the world. One of their distinguishing features is a conspicuous swelling of their forewing vein, but the functional significance of this structure is unknown. Here we show that wing vein inflations function in hearing. Using the Common Wood-Nymph, Cercyonis pegala, as a model, we show that (1) these butterflies have ears on their forewings that are most sensitive to low frequency sounds (<5 kHz); (2) inflated wing veins are directly connected to the ears; (3) when vein inflations are ablated, sensitivity to low frequency sounds is impaired. We propose that inflated veins contribute to low frequency hearing by impedance matching.

昆虫已演化出多种特化的听觉器官，用以感知对生存至关重要的声响。本研究报道了蝶类翅膀上一种独特的听觉增强结构。眼蝶族（Satyrini）是一类分布遍及全球的多样化蝶类类群，其显著特征之一是前翅脉存在明显的膨大结构，但该结构的功能意义长期以来未被阐明。本研究以普通木荫蝶（Cercyonis pegala）为模式物种，证实翅脉膨大结构参与听觉功能：（1）该蝶类的前翅上分布有听觉器官，对低频声响（<5 kHz）最为敏感；（2）翅脉膨大结构与听觉器官直接相连；（3）消融翅脉膨大结构后，其对低频声响的感知敏感性显著受损。本研究提出，翅脉膨大结构可通过阻抗匹配机制，助力蝶类的低频听觉感知。