‘Unique songs’ in the night lead to discovery of new species with sword-like tail
In the mountains of Tibet, a small creature with a sword-like tail rubbed its legs together. The sound was likely intended to attract a mate, but it attracted something else entirely.
Nearby scientists followed the “unique songs” and discovered a new species.
Researchers ventured into the mountains of Zayu county at night in July 2023, according to a study published March 6 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys. They planned to search for insects by listening to their songs.
In the darkness, researchers heard “unique songs” that were “different from any known cricket species,” the study said.
They followed the sounds to the source and found five small crickets. Researchers captured the animals and, taking a closer look, realized they’d discovered a new species: Svistella yayun, or the beautiful music sword-tail cricket.
Beautiful music sword-tail crickets are considered “small,” measuring about a quarter of an inch in length, the study said. They have “long” antennae, compound eyes and a brown body.
A photo shows the new species. It has a pale brown body with orange hues around its head.
“Due to its small size, it is challenging to collect or observe (Svistella yayun) in the field without relying on its distinctive songs,” researchers said.
Researchers said they named the new species “yayun,” a phonetic spelling of the Chinese word for “beautiful music.”
So far, beautiful music sword-tail crickets have only been found in Zayu county, the study said. This county is in southeastern Tibet, an autonomous region controlled by China, and near a disputed China-India border.
The new species was identified by its coloring, eardrums, song and DNA, the study said. The new species is part of a family of crickets, Trigonidiinae, commonly known as sword-tail crickets.
The research team included Jing-Wen Hou, Yue Xu, Tian-Hao Hu, Zi-Heng Zhang, Shi-Yang Wu, Pu Gong and Zhu-Qing He.
This story was originally published March 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM with the headline "‘Unique songs’ in the night lead to discovery of new species with sword-like tail."
