Structure of the stridulatory apparatus and analysis of the sound produced by Smicronyx fulvus and Smicronyx sordidus (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Erirrhininae, Smicronychini)

Wing folding spicules, elytral binding patches, and elytral locking devices of adult male and female seed weevils, Smicronyx fulvus LeConte and S. sordidus LeConte, involved in stridulation are described. Sound is produced by both sexes of the two species when the plectrum, paired conical teeth located along the anterior margin of the dorsally elevated seventh sternite, is struck against an elongate file, the pars stridens, on the under surface of the apical portion of each elytron. A second plectrum, on the sixth tergite, is well-developed in males of both species and is used by males to produce sound before and during mating.Sex-specific and species-specific differences in the sound produced is attributed to structural variation in the pars stridens and the elytra. The pars stridens determines frequencies, while the elytra may further modify the sound. The frequency range for male S. fulvus is 1,000 cycles per second (cps) through 13,000 cps and for male S. sordidus is 2,500 cps through 13,000 cps. The frequency range for female S. fulvus is 2,000 cps through 11,500 cps and for female S. sordidus is 900 cps through 11,500 cps.