Calling songs of grasshoppers of the genus <i>Podismopsis</i> (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Gomphocerinae) and potentialities of use of acoustic characters for discrimination between species of the genus
Calling signals of Podismopsis poppiusi, P. genicularibus and P. ussuriensis from several localities in Southern Siberia, Amur Area, Khabarovsk and Maritime Provinces are described. Different types of variability of signals are investigated. Signals of all species studied have similar temporal pattern and are the echeme-sequences. The shape of syllables in first two species can vary due to the presence or absence of the gaps. Syllable repetition period (SRP) remains constant over many hundreds of kilometres of the range in all species studied. Signals of conspecific males from the same locality usually overlap in SRP fully or partially, but differ significantly from each other in this parameter. In the signals of sympatric species the values of SRP can overlap only to a small extent, whereas in allopatric ones they sometimes occupy almost the same range. P. ussuriensis ussuriensis and P. ussuriensis micra have the same pattern of songs, whereas populations of P. genicularibus from the western regions of the Russian Far East and from the Southern Maritime Province differ from each other in the number of syllables per echeme. Successful use of acoustic characters in taxonomy of Podismopsis is possible only with due account of their variation. Formal comparison of several selected recordings can lead to erroneous conclusions.