Inter-plant vibrational communication in a leafhopper insect

Vibrational communication is one of the least understood channels of communication. Most studies have focused on the role of substrate-borne signals in insect mating behavior, where a male and a female establish a stereotyped duet that enables partner recognition and localization. While the effective communication range of substrate-borne signals may be up to several meters, it is generally accepted that insect vibrational communication is limited to a continuous substrate. Until now, interplant communication in absence of physical contact between plants has never been demonstrated in a vibrational communicating insect. With a laser vibrometer we investigated transmission of natural and played back vibrational signals of a grapevine leafhopper, Scaphoideus titanus, when being transmitted between leaves of different cuttings without physical contact. Partners established a vibrational duet up to 6 cm gap width between leaves. Ablation of the antennae showed that antennal mechanoreceptors are not essential in detection of mating signals. Our results demonstrate for the first time that substrate discontinuity does not impose a limitation on communication range of vibrational signals. We also suggest that the behavioral response may depend on the signal intensity.