“Can you hear me?” Investigating the acoustic communication signals and receptor organs of bark beetles

Many bark beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) species have been documented to produce acoustic signals, yet our knowledge of their acoustic ecology is limited. In this thesis, three aspects of bark beetle acoustic communication were examined: the distribution of sound production in the subfamily based on the most recent literature; the characteristics of signals and the possibility of context dependent signalling using a model species: Ips pini; and the acoustic reception of bark beetles through neurophysiological studies on Dendroctonus valens. It was found that currently there are 107 species known to stridulate using a wide diversity of mechanisms for stridulation. Ips pini was shown to exhibit variation in certain chirp characteristics, including the duration and amplitude modulation, between behavioural contexts. Neurophysiological recordings were conducted on several body regions, and vibratory responses were reported in the metathoracic leg and the antennae.