Speciation and sexual selection in acoustically communicating grasshoppers

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The analysis of mechanisms how populations differentiate and new species arise, is fundamental for understanding the evolution of biological diversity. Mating preferences and sexually selected characters can rapidly diverge between populations, and this probably can lead to premating reproductive isolation and hence the evolution of new species. We plan to investigate the role of complex communication systems (here acoustic communication in grasshoppers) for the radiation of species flocks. A molecular phylogeny will be used first as a reference frame to study the evolution of signals (male songs) and second to compare speciation rates between communicating and non-communicating groups as well as among groups that differ in the complexity of their communication system.