''Supersonus'' is a genus of

katydids Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids (especially in North America) or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the suborder Ensifera, the ...

in the order

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – gras ...

first described in 2014. The genus contains three species which are endemic to the rainforests of South America. Its name is an allusion to the fact that the males, in order to attract the females, produce a very high frequency noise which can reach 150 kHz (using only the right wing). This has been considered the highest frequency ultrasonic noise of the animal kingdom. The noise is imperceptible to human hearing, which is only capable of detecting up to 20 kHz.

Habitat

''Supersonus'' species inhabit tropical to lowland rainforest environments at heights between above the forest floor, often a few meters below the forest canopy. They live on and among the epiphytal growth such as

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...

s and

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s on tree trunks and limbs. Populations of ''

Supersonus aequoreus ''Supersonus'' is a genus of Tettigoniidae, katydids in the order Orthoptera first described in 2014. The genus contains three species which are endemic to the rainforests of South America. Its name is an allusion to the fact that the males, i ...

'' are known on the islands of Gorgona and Gorgonilla in the National Natural Park (PNN) Gorgona, which are isolated off the mainland

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n coast. The rainforest of the islands is similar to that of the mainland, with an average annual temperature of and rainfall averaging . The '' Supersonus piercei'' population is known from Watershed Pericos around the small community of El Salto, in the Valle del Cauca Department of mainland Colombia. Like the rainforest of National Natural Park (PNN) Gorgona, the Watershed Pericos forest is a lowland tropical rainforest though is location on the western edges of the

Andean Cordillera The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

result in more rainfall and temperature fluctuation. Rainfall amounts in the watershed range between and the temperature range is between annually. The population of ''

Supersonus undulus ''Supersonus'' is a genus of Tettigoniidae, katydids in the order Orthoptera first described in 2014. The genus contains three species which are endemic to the rainforests of South America. Its name is an allusion to the fact that the males, i ...

'' inhabits a lowland rainforest environment at Tinalandia, in a private forest preserve between

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

and Santo Domingo de los Colorado in

Pichincha Province Pichincha () is a province of Ecuador located in the northern Sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura and Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo and ...

. The elevation of the rainforest is , the highest of the three population habitats, with a forest typical of the western Andean slopes.

Taxonomy

Early specimens belonging to ''Supersonus'' were misidentified by researchers as specimens in the genus '' Arachnoscelis'', with early specimen records dating back to 1927. Redescription of the ''Arachnoscelis''

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

by Montealegre-Z ''et al''. (2013) highlighted the notable differences between the type species and a number of specimens tentatively identified to that genus. The genus ''Supersonus'' was first described by Sarria-S ''et al'' (2014) based on specimens collected from locations in Colombia and Ecuador. Efforts to collect specimens were first collected during night expeditions in which researches manually searched the rainforest undergrowth wearing headlamps. However, over a span of almost 15 years, very few specimens were recovered. Discovery of the adults' preferred living height allowed the entomologists to collect a much larger sample group. Sarria-S ''et al'' (2014) chose the genus name ''Supersonus'' as a combination of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

words "''super''" meaning "above" and "''sonus''" meaning "sound". The name is recognition of the high forest perches used by calling males of the genus, along with the calls ranging above 100 kHz, and in honor of the original designation for ultrasonic frequencies as "supersonic". Along with the genus description, three species were described in the 2014 type paper, ''

'', '' Supersonus piercei'', and ''

''. Initially the genus was placed into the

Tettigoniidae Insects in the family (biology), family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids (especially in North America) or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the subo ...

subfamily Listroscelidinae and considered close in relationship to ''Arachnoscelis''; however, further work led to a placement in the

Meconematinae Meconematinae is a subfamily of the Tettigoniidae, bush crickets, with a worldwide distribution (but very limited representation in Antarctica and North America). Tribes and genera In the Orthoptera Species File, the following are listed: Mec ...

tribe Phisidini.

Acoustics

At the time of description, the communication calls of male ''Supersonus'' species were identified as the highest frequency known from an arthropod, with calls reaching 115 kHz, 125 kHz, and 150 kHz in the three species. The typical frequency range for male katydid calls is between 5 kHz and 30 kHz, mostly within the human hearing range of 50 Hz to 20 kHz. The mating call of male ''S. aequoreus '' is the highest ultrasound calling carrier recorded in nature with a top frequency of 150 kHz. The calls are generated by the modified right forewings which form a cavity over the insect dorsum producing sharp resonances and elevated sound pressure levels for the calling.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q17326457 Meconematinae Tettigoniidae genera Insects of South America