Use of a self-made sound baffle by a tree cricket

FIELD observations and sound recordings of several South African species of Oecanthidae were carried out during the summer and autumn of 1973-74 to augment studies of the acoustic behaviour of the tree cricket performed abroad^1-6. We report that Oecanthus burmeisteri uses a leaf as a sound baffle to increase the intensity of its calling song by pressing its tegmina against the edges of a pear-shaped hole gnawed into the leaf.. At least two more South African chirping Oecanthus species use a leaf baffle just as efficiently as O. burmeisteri.