How can bugs hear

To his mind, this suggests that their ears first evolved not for singing but, much like mantises, for self-preservation. If studies like these are helping to unravel the evolutionary history of insect hearing, they also promise something more: the opportunity to eavesdrop on the ancient past and gain new insights into insect behavior. In summer, the air over the Sussex Downs is alive with a symphony of insect sound as grasshoppers and katydids chirp, buzz and click in their quest for love.

But how much more will I be missing? This article was originally published on November 27, by Knowable Magazine, an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews, and is reprinted with permission. Sign up for the newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. A greater horseshoe bat hunts a moth. The appearance of bats that hunt with the aid of ultrasonic sonar drove the evolution of hearing in many moths and other night-flying insects. Most moths have ears tuned to the frequencies used by bats. Credit: Alamy.

Hearing has evolved at least 20 times in insects, leading to ears in an astonishing number of different locations, as shown on this image of a generalized insect. Insect ears come in many forms. Here are three of them, and basics about how they work.

Crystal ear-gazing: Phlugis poecila , a crystal katydid from the rainforests of Colombia, has such a transparent outer cuticle that scientists can see right through its eardrums inset. By shining lasers into its ears they can record activity of the inner ear as it analyses the frequency of incoming sound. Credit: Fabio Sarria-S. Katydids can pinpoint the source of a sound because every sound hits the eardrums twice, once from outside the body and once from inside.

This micro-CT reconstruction right of Copiphora gorgonensis photo, left shows the inside route. The European praying mantis Mantis religiosa has a single ear located in a deep groove that runs down the middle of its chest.

At the sound of a hunting bat, mantises make dramatic moves to evade capture. Yet these ears originated many millions of years before bats existed. Get smart. Sign up for our email newsletter. Sign Up. Support science journalism. Knowledge awaits. See Subscription Options Already a subscriber? Animals Climate change is shrinking many Amazonian birds. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city.

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