@article{WEI2025, 
author = {Yu-Xin WEI and Zheng-Wei WANG},
title = {Acoustic simulation between assassin bug (Biasticus ventralis) and its prey, the stingless bee (Tetragonilla collina)},
year = {2025},
journal = {Journal of Environmental Entomology},
volume = {47},
number = {1},
pages = {140-150},
keywords = {Acoustic mimicry, insect mimicry, aggressive mimicry, flight sound frequency},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.3969/j.issn.1674-0858.2025.01.15},
doi = {10.3969/j.issn.1674-0858.2025.01.15},
abstract = {Mimicry is a very common ecological adaptation phenomenon in nature and is also one of the most typical research cases to understand natural selection. However, most reported cases of mimicry are concentrated in the visual modality, and there are still few reports on the acoustic modality. This study reports a acoustic mimicry case between Tetragonilla collina and Biasticus ventralis based on predator-prey relationships. We collected audio recordings of Homing T.collina, Outbound T. collina, and B. ventralis flying at the entrance of the T. collina stingless bee hive, and extracted and analyzed their audio recordings. Subsequently, multivariate statistical analysis was conducted on seven sound frequency parameters, including fundamental frequency, first harmonic, second harmonic, first frequency quartile, second frequency quartile, third frequency quartile, and spectral standard deviation, to compare their similarities. The results indicated that the partial least squares discriminant analysis based on 7 sound frequency parameters failed to effectively discriminate the sounds emitted by Homing and Outbound T. collina and the B. ventralis. According to the likelihood ratio chi square test, it was found that there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the seven sound frequency parameters between the Homing T. collina and B. ventralis. Comparative analysis revealed that mimetic similarity between Homing T. collina and B. ventralis was higher within the two T. collina-associated mimicry systems examined. The discovery of this mimetic system provides a new research case for sound modality, and thus provides a certain reference basis for understanding the origin and evolution of mimicry from a multimodal perspective.}
}