Resonant song recognition in crickets

The function and evolution of calling song recognition networks is central to understanding speciation in insects. Evolutionary changes in the recognition network can compel speciation, so understanding the commonalities in the mechanisms by which song recognition is achieved across species can help define a central or “mother” network architecture that is shared among closely related species in a group. One instance of such a mother network for calling song recognition has been extensively characterized for G. Bimaculatus. A computational model of this proposed network has been shown to recover all single-peaked recognition phenotypes. The novel, multi-peaked response of the Anurogryllus cricket presents a potential challenge to the mother network hypothesis. Here, we characterize this phenotype as resonant and examine the properties of such a resonance type alongside simplified mechanisms of song feature recognition with the aim of expanding the known capabilities of the mother network architecture, and exploring how resonance types may be selectively suppressed and recovered, allowing for fast transitions between tuning types in evolution.