Darryl T. Gwynne Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York 2001, 317 pages, $42.50, cloth, ISBN 0-8014-3655-9 Our appreciation of biological diversity owes much to the collective efforts of a special cadre of scientists who become thoroughly captivated by particular organisms, recognize those central issues that can be studied with greatest precision in their favorite species, and enthusiastically advertise their findings to the biological community. The Canadian behavioral ecologist Darryl Gwynne is among this breed, and his efforts have put katydids (bush-crickets, should you reside outside the Western Hemisphere) on the behavioral ecology and evolution map. True, by mid 20th century, katydids (Tettigoniidae) had already acquired some status in the natural history of North America through their mating songs, especially the variable syllables sung by Pterophylla camellifolia (true katydid). In addition, entomologists were becoming aware of the importance of these songs in species recognition, sexual advertisement, and male rivalry. But it was Darryl Gwynne’s studies of mating systems in North American and Australian tettigoniids over the past 20 years – which have taught us so much about the evolution of courtship behavior and how ecological factors may influence the roles assumed by the sexes – that earned this family a central place in biology. These landmark studies, accompanied by concise reviews of the evolution, anatomy, physiology, and ecology of tettigoniids, are now presented in an eminently readable book, “Katydids and bush-crickets: reproductive behavior and evolution of the Tettigoniidae” (D.T. Gwynne, 2001, Cornell Univ. Press, 317 pp.).
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Greenfield et al. (2003) studied this question.