Meconema thalassinum

Species

38 recordings
33 trait measurements
6 annotations
1 specimens

Account

What the sources say about this taxon, as written.

behaviour · bio.acousti.ca

Both pairs of wings are raised upwards until they are perpendicular to the body, and one of the hind feet is drummed on the substrate (e.g. the surface of a leaf). The other hind leg is extended backwards to act as a support. The drumming is extremely rapid and is in very short burts of less thn a second. There are usully a number of these burts, the first ones being of shorter duration than the remainder. The whole process lasts no more than a few seconds. During the drummin the abdomen also vibrates, but is held clear of the surface on which the insect is resting.

this account at bio.acousti.ca

behaviour · bio.acousti.ca

There are some literature references to the males being able to produce a soft stridulation, but it seems that the main mode of communication is vibratory. The males issue a series of bursts of drumming on the substrate with one hind foot.

this account at bio.acousti.ca

behaviour · bio.acousti.ca

The remarkable nocturanl 'song' of this insect is not produced by stridulation but by a rapid drumming of one of the hind legs on teh substrate. It is clearly intended for conduction through the substrate and so the airborne sound produced is incidental and very quiet. To produce the sound the male raises both pairs of wings more or less perpendicularly to the body and vibrates one of the hind legs so the that its tarsus is drummed on the surface of the leaf, twig or any other substrate that the male happens to be using. The drumming is in short bursts of up to a second or slightly longerand these are almost always in sequences of up to seven bursts, separated from other such sequences by intervals of at least several seconds (3-15 s in the songs studied). Each sequence is usally composed of a combination of shorter and longer bursts, with the shorter ones preceeding the longer ones. Each shorter burst usually consists of 3-8 impacts and lasts for about 0.07-0.20s, while each longer one usually consists of 30-50 impacts and lasts for about 0.7-1.3s. The impact repetiton rate, in both shorter and longer bursts, is usually 3-40/s at temperatures up to 25°C, but can be as much as 60/s or more at higher temperatures. The number of short and long bursts in a sequence is very variable: 2-3 short ones followed by 1 or 2 long ones is a common patterm, but there can be as many as 5 of either kind (though not in the same sequence) and some sequences lack short bursts completeky. The interval between successive bursts lasts about 0.2-2.0s. The quality of the airborne sound depends on the substrate. Drumming on a twig is extremely faint, but if a suitable leaf is used the sound can sometimes be heard from a distance of several metres.

this account at bio.acousti.ca

behaviour · bio.acousti.ca

Although the males have no stridulatory organ, they produce a very characteristic song: they drum with a hind leg on the substrate (e.g. a leaf), producing a purring sound audible from about 1m. Usually there are several such bursts of drumming in a series of short bursts followed by one to three longer ones, e.g., 'tr-tr--tr-trrr-trrr'.

this account at bio.acousti.ca

Acoustic traits

33 measurements across 14 traits. Each name links to its term in the audioBlast vocabulary.

Percussion Impact Rate (Hz)

<60, 30-40, >60

3 measurements · Calling Call

Sound Propagation Medium

Substrate

2 measurements · Calling Call

Percussion Impacts Per Call

30-50, 3-8

2 measurements · Calling Call (Long Burst), Calling Call (Short Burst)

Duration of Component Call

0.7-1.3, 0.07-0.20

2 measurements · Caling Call (Short Burst), Calling Call (Long Burst)

Call Duration

c.1

Calling Call

Call Interval

3-15

Calling Call

Interval Between Components of Call

0.2-2.0

Calling Call

Measurements

Every value behind the summaries above. Each links to its own record in the API, which carries the reference it was taken from.

TraitValueCallPartSexTemp.Source
Peak Frequency (kHz)1.85Callbio.acousti.ca
1.36Callbio.acousti.ca
1.36Callbio.acousti.ca
1.36Callbio.acousti.ca
1.33505859375-11.2833984375Callbio.acousti.ca
1.33505859375-2.1533203125Callbio.acousti.ca
3.4453125-16.14990234375Callbio.acousti.ca
1.72265625-7.70888671875Callbio.acousti.ca
Frequency Spectrum (50%) (kHz)1.35-1.36Callbio.acousti.ca
1.32-1.36Callbio.acousti.ca
1.35-1.37Callbio.acousti.ca
1.34-1.89Callbio.acousti.ca
Frequency Spectrum (25%) (kHz)1.35-1.36Callbio.acousti.ca
1.31-1.36Callbio.acousti.ca
1.31-1.37Callbio.acousti.ca
1.29-2.24Callbio.acousti.ca
Percussion Impact Rate (Hz)<60Calling CallMale>25bio.acousti.ca
30-40Calling CallMale<25bio.acousti.ca
>60Calling CallMale>25bio.acousti.ca
Sound Propagation MediumSubstrateCalling CallMalebio.acousti.ca
SubstrateCalling CallMalebio.acousti.ca
Sound Production MethodHind leg drummingCalling CallMalebio.acousti.ca
Hind leg drumming (one leg)Calling CallMalebio.acousti.ca
Percussion Impacts Per Call30-50Calling Call (Long Burst)Malebio.acousti.ca
3-8Calling Call (Short Burst)Malebio.acousti.ca
Duration of Component Call0.7-1.3Calling Call (Long Burst)Malebio.acousti.ca
0.07-0.20Caling Call (Short Burst)Malebio.acousti.ca
Crepitation (Presence)AbsentMale; Femalebio.acousti.ca
Sound Propagation Distance (m)1Calling CallMalebio.acousti.ca
Call Durationc.1Calling CallMalebio.acousti.ca
Time Of Day Of Highest Acoustic ActivitySunrise-sunsetbio.acousti.ca
Call Interval3-15Calling CallMalebio.acousti.ca
Interval Between Components of Call0.2-2.0Calling CallMalebio.acousti.ca

Recordings

38 in audioBlast.

lab recording, 17/8/1990, 26°C (Kenwood KX880HX with AKG D202, tape: S-MES90, tape no. KW32:01.00-10.00, noice-reduced)
123 s
bio.acousti.ca listen › record
375:7 Meconema thalassinum(323)
56 s
W. J. Reynolds 1979-08-17 bio.acousti.ca listen › record
375:8 Meconema thalassinum(323b)
789 s
W. J. Reynolds 1979-08-17 bio.acousti.ca listen › record
375:9 Meconema thalassinum(324)
453 s
W. J. Reynolds 1979-08-17 bio.acousti.ca listen › record
375:10 Meconema thalassinum(325)
470 s
W. J. Reynolds 1979-08-20 bio.acousti.ca listen › record
390:1 Meconema thalassinum(326)
477 s
W. J. Reynolds 1979-08-21 bio.acousti.ca listen › record
390:2 Meconema thalassinum(327)
955 s
W. J. Reynolds bio.acousti.ca listen › record
XC1178266 Drumming Katydid (Meconema thalassinum) - courtship song, Drumming
45 s
Arjan Boonman 2026-07-15 xeno-canto listen › record
XC967991 Drumming Katydid (Meconema thalassinum) - calling song
33 s
Julien Barataud 2021-08-30 xeno-canto listen › record
XC967990 Drumming Katydid (Meconema thalassinum) - calling song
66 s
Julien Barataud 2021-08-30 xeno-canto listen › record
XC967989 Drumming Katydid (Meconema thalassinum) - calling song
65 s
Julien Barataud 2021-08-29 xeno-canto listen › record
XC446555 Oak Bush-cricket (Meconema thalassinum) - song
23 s
Baudewijn Odé 1993-07-19 xeno-canto listen › record

26 more in the audioBlast browser.

Annotations

Regions of a recording marked as this taxon, by a person or by an algorithm.

RecordingFromToTypeAnnotatorRecord
90071.64840544.60936Voice IntroductionEdward Bakerview
900749.0857551.90755CallEdward Bakerview
90090.67297644.60768Voice IntroductionEdward Bakerview
9009113.6833414.9499CallEdward Bakerview
9009113.3716120.5264Callqgeissmannview
9009218.5542232.2546Callqgeissmannview

Browse

Counts are recordings at or below each taxon, so an empty branch shows as empty before you click it. A dash means the join view holds no column for that rank and cannot roll up to it.

Specimens

Occurrences the recordings are of, in Darwin Core terms.

CatalogueInstitutionBasisSexLife stage
010211032NHMUKPreservedSpecimen

Sources

The rows audioBlast holds for this taxon, each matched to the same Catalogue of Life node. Where a source classifies it differently, its own classification is kept.

SourceIts nameIts rankIts familyRecord
bio.acousti.caMeconema thalassinumSpeciesTettigoniidaebio.acousti.ca/97

Machine-readable

Bioschemas is in the head of this page. The Darwin Core RDF lives at the API address below, which negotiates JSON-LD and Turtle.

Bioschemas Taxon, as embedded
{
  "@context": [
    "https://schema.org/",
    {
      "dwc": "http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/"
    }
  ],
  "@type": "Taxon",
  "@id": "https://browse.acousti.cloud/taxon/meconema-thalassinum/",
  "name": "Meconema thalassinum",
  "taxonRank": "species",
  "url": "https://browse.acousti.cloud/taxon/meconema-thalassinum/",
  "sameAs": "https://api.audioblast.org/taxon/CoL/3YLJ4",
  "alternateName": [
    "le Méconème tambourinaire",
    "Gemeine Eichenschrecke",
    "Boomsprinkhaan",
    "The Oak Bush-cricket",
    "Egegræshoppe",
    "Ekvårtbitare"
  ],
  "parentTaxon": {
    "@type": "Taxon",
    "name": "Meconema",
    "taxonRank": "genus",
    "url": "https://browse.acousti.cloud/taxon/meconema/"
  }
}