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Articles By Resource type : Audio
Insect Sounds from the Forests of Northern Thailand
Audio files in MP3 format of various cicadas, crickets and some other insects recorded in the forests of Chiang Mai, Thailand. A very useful site for demonstrating the diversity of insect calls. This can be used to develop a discussion of species isolating mechanisms and sexual selection.
Reference Library of Digitized Insect Sounds
An excellent collection of different kinds of insect sounds: movement and feeding sounds, courtship, defensive stridulation, and insects flying. The sounds are organized by topic and species. The audio files are in .wav format which can be played in nearly all web browsers. Although some links are not working, this is a comprehensive resource to include insect sounds in teaching and learning exercises.
Singing Insects of North America
Maps, photographs, drawings, songs, keys, and references are available for many species of crickets, katydids, and cicadas from North America. Useful for answering the question "what is making that sound, what does it look like and where does it occur?" Keys for some groups (cicadas) are all textual, while other groups such as katydids have pictures and drawings allowing lower division students to be able to identify these insects.
Songs of Crickets and Katydids from Japan
Japan has a long tradition of appreciating the songs of Orthoptera, and caged orthopterans are often kept as singing pets. This website presents photos of various singing insects (on a grid for sizing), as well as the Japanese common name and scientific name for each species, the time of year when they are found, and their habitat and distribution. The presentation is available in both English and Japanese languages. More than 90 songs are available for various Orthoptera (crickets, katydids, grasshoppers, and mole crickets); several additional songs are available for beetles and assassin bugs. Also available are more than 10 examples of chorusing orthopterans, as well as examples of variations in songs caused by temperature and other factors. Click on the Insect Sound links. Audio files are in MP3 and RealMedia format. Each song plays for roughly 10 to 30 seconds. This is a wonderful website.
Songs of insects
A audio library with a good selection of crickets, katydids and cicadas form Lang Elliot and Wil Hershberger. The audio library is searchable by groups of similar species and by species. There is also a library of 20 common insect songs and a "Vocabulary of Insect Songs" with short explanations of how the various groups make their songs. This is a great resource of insect songs for undergraduate and graduate courses or for individuals trying to identify an insect by its song. There is also a section about keeping a singing insect as a pet.
The Secret Society of Superorganisms
National Public Radio audio slideshow about ants and eusociality, as well has Wilson and Holldobler's newest book (as of this writing)mainly about leafcutter ants and their giant colonies. An excerpt of the book is included as well as audio of Dr. Wilson discussing ants. |

01-16-2009: