Fiddler on the Tree - A Bush-Cricket Species with Unusual Stridulatory Organs and Song
Insects of the order Orthoptera are well-known for their acoustic communication. The structures used for this purpose show a high diversity which obviously relates to differences in song parameters and to the physics of sound production. Here we describe song and morphology of the sound producing organs of a tropical bush-cricket, Ectomoptera nepicauda, from East Africa. It has a very unusual calling song consisting of frequency-modulated, pure-tone sounds in the high ultrasonic range of 80 to120 kHz and produced by extremely fast wing movements. Concerning morphology, it represents the most extreme state in the degree of left-right fore-wing differentiation found among Orthoptera: the acoustic parts of the left fore-wing consist exclusively of the stridulatory file, comparable in function to the bow of a violin, while the right wing carries only the plectrum ( =  string) and mirror ( =  soundbox).
Biogeography, ecology, acoustics and chromosomes of East African Eurycorypha Stål species (Orthoptera, Phaneropterinae) with the description of new species
Although Eurycorypha is the most species-rich Phaneropterinae genus in Africa, little is known about the distribution and the ecology of the species. In this study data on distribution, ecology, song and on chromosomes of some East African species are provided. The nymphs of some species are shown, famous for their ant-like appearance and behaviour. The male of E. punctipennis Chopard and three species of Eurycorypha are newly described. These are E. resonans n. sp. and E. combretoides n. sp. occurring in different habitats on Mount Kilimanjaro, and E. conclusa n. sp from forest habitats along the Tanzanian coast. Bioacoustically, the four recorded species are unusually divers, presenting non-resonant and resonant songs. As four Eurycorypha species occur syntopically on geological young Mount Kilimanjaro, the biogeographical pattern and possible speciation mechanisms in the genus Eurycorypha are discussed in context of the climatical history of eastern Africa.
NMR characteristics of intracellular K in the rat salivary gland: a 39K NMR study using double-quantum filtering.
Intracellular K of the perfused rat mandibular salivary gland was measured by 39K NMR spectroscopy at 8.45 T. Multiple-quantum NMR arising from multiple-exponential decay was used to eliminate the resonance due to extracellular K in the perfused gland at 25 degrees C. The resonance due to intracellular K consisted of two Lorentzian signals stemming from the [spin 1/2 to -1/2] coherence (sharp resonance) and the [spin -1/2 to -3/2], [spin 3/2 to 1/2] coherences (broad resonance). The transverse relaxation time (T2) corresponding to the [spin 1/2 to -1/2] coherence was ca. 2.5 ms, and that corresponding to the [spin -1/2 to -3/2], [spin 3/2 to 1/2] coherences was ca. 0.4 ms. The relaxation time of the double-quantum coherence of rank 3 (originating from product operators like Ix2Iz) was determined to be ca. 0.2 ms. These results suggest the possibility of the presence of a single homogeneous population of intracellular K with a correlation time of ca. 2.5 x 10(-8) s and a quadrupolar coupling constant of ca. 1.4 MHz.