Function of male genital titillators in mating and spermatophore transfer in the tettigoniid bushcricketMetrioptera roeselii

Males of certain bushcrickets (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Tettigoniidae) possess sclerotized internal genital devices termed titillators. These titillators are paired chitinized structures for which the function remains to be completely determined. We studied the role of the titillators during copulation in the bushcricket Metrioptera roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822), in the context of four a priori hypotheses for their function during mating and...