Life history trade-offs play a fundamental role in the evolution of various traits. In wing-polymorphic field crickets, the flight-capable long-winged morph (LW) retains the ability to fly, but has lower reproductive success than the flight-incapable short-winged morph (SW) due to the high energetic costs of flight. Long-winged, flight-capable individuals (LW-F), however, can histolyze their flight muscles and become flightless (LW-H). Little is known about the reproductive consequences of flight muscle histolysis for male insects.

For my Masters dissertation, I examined variation in male singing behavior among the three morphs of the sand field cricket, Gryllus firmus. In this species, males attract females by singing, and male mating success is affected by duration of singing and characteristics of the song. My central hypotheses were: (1) SW males invest more in energetically expensive singing than do LW-F males because they need not invest in flight capability, and (2) flight muscle histolysis is an adaptive strategy that allows LW males to divert energy to mate attraction.

Examining male singing activity I found that males of the two flightless morphs (SW & LW-H) are more likely to sing, and sing for longer periods of time, than LW-F males. These results suggest that a LW male may invest as much in singing as a SW.

Mitra, C., W. E. Wagner Jr., A. J. Zera and A. J. Tyre. In review. Variation in singing activity among wing and flight-muscle morphs of the sand field cricket, Gryllus firmus. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Mitra, C., A. E. Tolle, W. E. Wagner, Jr., A. J. Zera and A. J. Tyre. In preparation. Variation in male calling song characteristics among wing morphs of the sand field cricket, Gryllus firmus, and its effects on female choice.