Varvara Vedenina

• Doctor of Philosophy
• head of Laboratory at Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences

The two cryptic grasshopper species of the genus Stenobothrus, S. eurasius and S. hyalosuperficies, demonstrate different acoustic behavior despite a strong similarity in morphology. A hybridization between these species is possible in the contact zone; however, there are little molecular data about the relationships of these species. The analysis...

The songs of seven grasshopper species of subfamily Gomphocerinae from Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and Kazakhstan were studied. We analysed not only the sound, but also the stridulatory movements of the hind legs to more entirely describe the songs. In Mesasippus kozhevnikovi, Chorthippus macrocerus, and C. hammarstroemi, the legs are moved in a rela...

The evolution of the calling songs in Gomphocerinae was evaluated via estimating a phylogenetic signal of the song characters and an ancestral character state reconstruction. Analyses of the calling songs in 80 palearctic gomphocerine species allowed us to define 24 characters describing the temporal pattern of the sound and the stridulatory leg‐mo...

Songs and morphology are compared between Chorthippus miramae (Vorontsovsky, 1928) that was previously named as C. porphyropterus and two other closely related species, C. brunneus (Thunberg, 1815) and C. maritimus Mistshenko, 1951. We compare them because the calling song of C. miramae was previously shown to have song elements similar to those of...

The courtship rituals of Drosophila include an exchange of several signals with different modalities, chemical, visual, acoustic and tactile stimuli, between sexes. Using a video recording method, we studied the role of acoustic communication in courtship behavior in three species of the Drosophila virilis group, D. virilis, D. lummei and two popul...

On the basis of the song and morphological analyses, we revised the status of the subspecies Stenobothrus eurasius eurasius Zubowsky, 1898, and S. eurasius hyalosuperficies Vorontsovskii, 1927. The status of the subspecies S. eurasius hyalosuperficies Vor. has been changed to the species level. The most striking difference between S. eurasius and S...

Male courtship songs of 9 grasshopper species of Gomphocerinae from Kazakhstan and Orenburg region and Altai Republic of Russia were studied. We analyzed not only the sound, but also the stridulatory movements of the hind legs to more entirely describe the songs. We also analyze the frequency spectra of the songs and the whole visual display during...

To find a mate, males and females of phaneropterine bush-crickets engage in duets. The male starts a duet and a female responds if she is prepared to mate. This pattern is exactly followed in the acoustic communication of a species of the genus Anacaulomera from the State of Bahia in Brazil which we newly describe in this manuscript. However, the m...

Animal females are generally assumed to prefer males that win fights. However, a growing number of studies in numerous animal taxa demonstrate no correlation between male fighting ability and their attractiveness, or even female preferences for fight losers. One of the methods to measure female preferences employs no-choice tests that evaluate a fe...

Table S1. Sampling sites on Mount Tomaros.

Two grasshopper species Stenobothrus rubicundus and S. clavatus were previously shown to meet in a narrow hybrid zone on Mount Tomaros in northern Greece. The species are remarkable for their complex courtship songs accompanied by conspicuous movements of antennae and wings. We analyzed variations in forewing morphology, antenna shape, and courtshi...

Various characteristics of a long-distance acoustic signal have been shown to vary to different degrees. It has been suggested that female preferences based on stable song parameters are stabilising or weakly directional, and preferences based on variable parameters are strongly directional. We tested this hypothesis based on a short-distance signa...

Two new hybrid zones between sibling species of the Chorthippus albomarginatus group were described on the basis of the courtship song analysis. Not only the sounds emitted but also the accompanying stridulatory movements of the hind legs were analyzed, which allowed the temporal parameters to be classified in a more reliable way. One hybrid zone b...

The courtship behavior of seven grasshopper species of the subfamily Gomphocerinae from different localities of Russia, Ukraine and Greece was described. Not only the sounds but also the corresponding stridulatory movements of the hind legs and visual display accompanying the courtship song were analyzed. Comparison of the degree of variation in di...

Two grasshopper species, Stenobothrus rubicundus and Stenobothrus clavatus, were previously shown to hybridize in a narrow contact zone on Mount Tomaros in northern Greece. The species are characterized by complex and completely different courtship songs. In the present study, we investigated female preferences for the courtship songs of S. rubicun...

The closely related grasshopper species Stenobothrus rubicundus and Stenobothrus clavatus are known to hybridize in a very narrow contact zone on Mt. Tomaros in northern Greece. These species produce very different and complex courtship songs accompanied with visual display. We analyzed the courtship songs and underlying stridulatory movements of t...

The “banana cricket” is one of the preferred laboratory objects used for studying general and applied biological problems. However, the exact identity of this form remains obscure. Correct identification of the insects maintained in culture is vital for the correct prediction of the properties of the object in question and comparative studies. Anal...

To understand the driving forces of speciation in grasshoppers of the subfamily Gomphocerinae, we compared a molecular phylogenetic tree with the distribution of the song pattern complexity and courtship behavior. In 50 grasshopper species of Gomphocerinae, a barcoding region of mitochondrial gene COI was sequenced and analyzed. A plesiomorphic pat...

Closely related grasshopper species of the Chorthippus albomarginatus group are notable for their extremely complex courtship songs, accompanied by a visual display. Two species of this group, Ch. albomarginatus and Ch. oschei, were previously shown to hybridize in a wide mosaic hybrid zone in Ukraine and Moldova. In this paper, variation in five c...

A study of European sibling species of the Chorthippus albomarginatus group shows that the males could be well distinguished on the basis of the number and density of the stridulatory pegs. We recorded and analysed the calling and courtship songs of the males, as well as the stridulatory movements of the hind legs. Analysis of the stridulatory leg...

Two closely related grasshopper species Chorthippus albomarginatus and Ch. oschei are known to hybridize in the narrow contact zone at the territory of Ukraine and Moldova. Different isolaton mechanisms providing reproductive isolation between the two species were studied. In choice mating experiments, females of the both species demonstrated a str...

Sibling species of the Chorthippus albomarginatus-group are exceptional among all European grasshopper species because they have an extremely elaborate courtship behaviour. Here, we present a genetic analysis of the courtship song differences between two closely related grasshopper species Ch. albomarginatus and Ch. oschei. Measurements of seven co...

A polyclonal antibody against allatostatin 1 (AST-1) of cockroach Diploptera punctata was used to investigate the distribution of AST-like immunoreactivity within the abdomen of the locust, Schistocerca gregaria. In the abdominal ganglia, AST-like immunoreactivity was found in both cell bodies and neuropile. In ganglia 6 and 7, staining was found i...

Comparison of calling and courtship songs and mating strategies in different groups of Orthoptera shows that acoustic signals in bush crickets (Tettigonioidea) are used for searching conspecific mates at a distance, and song evolution is primarily driven by the acoustic surroundings and simultaneously singing other species. The role of sexual selec...

Grasshoppers of the Chorthippus albomarginatus-group, which is outstanding with respect to its complex courtship song, were studied at fifteen localities in the Ukraine and Moldova. The analysis of the courtship songs revealed two species: C. albomarginatus in north-eastern Ukraine and Chorthippus oschei in the south-western Ukraine and Moldova. In...

Calling and courtship stridulatory behavior of Chorthippus albomarginatus was induced by injections of acetylcholine agonists into the protocerebrum. Pharmacologically induced stridulation, in many parameters, was quite similar to the natural behavior. However, the order of the courtship element alternation was different from that of the natural so...

The bilateral pairs of cercal interneurons 10-2a and 10-3a in the cricket terminal ganglion are supposed to constitute a functional system for measuring the direction of air-borne signals, based on their phase-locked responses and selective directional sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to obtain information on the frequency and intensity c...

Three identified interneurons of the cercal system were investigated electrophysiologically; these interneurons are sensitive only to stimulation of cercal filiform-hair sensilla by low-frequency sound. Measurement of the frequency ranges revealed cut-off frequencies between ca. 20 and 70 Hz. Analysis of the responses near threshold and at higher i...

Interneurons in the cercal sensory system of crickets respond in a cell-specific manner if the cercal hair sensilla are stimulated by air-particle oscillations at frequencies below about 2000 Hz. We investigated the filter properties of several of these interneurons, and tested the effect of stimulus intensity (typically 0.3–50 mm s−1 peak-to-peak...

List of all 974 recognized species of Ensifera (Tettigonioidea: 458, Rhaphidopho-roidea: 44, Grylloidea: 91) and Caelifera (Tetrigoidea: 12, Tridactyloidea: 6, Acri-doidea: 363) in Europe including information about their distribution. Zusammenfassung Aufstellung aller 974 derzeitig anerkannten Arten der Ensifera (Tettigonioidea: 458, Rhaphidophoro...

612.014.421 Stimulation with linearly changing signals was used to study identified neurons 10-3a and 9-lb of the cereal system of the cricket with the aim of identifying which parameter of the wind stimulus (speed, acceleration, etc.) determined their responses. The results showed that the factor affecting neuron 10-3a was acceleration of the airf...