Arthropods (Sep 2020)
Sound producing stridulitrum in mantis shrimp
Abstract
There are three sound producing mechanisms employed in the Order Stomatopoda: (1) Sounds generated by raptorial appendages, the second maxillipeds used to attack prey organisms as described by Tirmizi and Kazmi (1984), Vetter and Caldwell (2015); (2) The " Stomatopod Rumble" in the family Gonodactyloidea involving the vibrations of the carapace by the posterior remoter muscle of the mandible (Patek and Caldwell, 2006); and (3) Stridulating structures (Stridulitrum) on the uropods and telson as described in Squilla empusa Say 1818 and in S. mantis (Linnaeus, 1758) by Brooks (1886a) and Giesbrecht (1910). The presence of stridulating structures has been used as a morphological character in defining, the Squillidea. The stridulating structures are on the back side of the endopod of the uropods and on the ventral surface of the telson. Little attention, however, has been paid to the detailed morphology of these stridulating structures. Members of the Family Squillidea use a stridulitrum to produce sounds. Electron micrographs of this structure in the Squillidea and were produced in this study. Images showing the detailed structure of four species of the genus Squilla and one from the genus Oratosquilla were analyzed. The clicking sound produced by the raptorial appendages of Squilla empusa Say 1818 was also studied (Say, 1818). Spectral analysis of these clicking sounds are presented.
