The Songs of Insects

Science News,  May 19, 2007  

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THE SONGS OF INSECTS LANG ELLIOTT AND WIL HERSHBERGER

Late summer is characterized by symphonies of crickets, katydids, and cicadas, a cacophony that can go on day and night. This book profiles the songs of 77 insects in the eastern and central United States and Canada. Following a guide to spotting singing insects, naturalist-photographers Elliott and Hershberger provide details of the anatomical mechanisms behind sound production, insect hearing, songs' structures, and their functions in courtship and other parts of the insect life cycle. For each species of insect musician, the authors provide the common and scientific names, a general physical description with pictures, a range map, and a description complete with frequencies and a visual representation in the form of a sonogram. The book includes maps of where 17-year cicadas live and predicts their years of emergence. An audio CD is included. Houghton Mifflin, 2007, 228 p., color images, paperback, $19.95.

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