Water Boatman - Corixidae.

Water boatman sound. At 105 decibels the bugs noise clocks in just louder than a motorcycle. Until that is you realise it makes the loudest. The water boatman is a tiny insect that lives at the bottom of freshwater ponds and slow streams.

The Water Boatmans Song. Recording the lesser water boatmans ingenious sound To the untrained ear the sound the lesser water boatman makes might not be that remarkable. Males can synchronize their calls generating a chorus.

For its size 2mm this aquatic bug is one of the loudest sound producers in the animal kingdom Posted by Richard Ranft The British Library on 09012012 210300 Micronecta scholtzi meridionalis. Most males have stridulatory organs rough areas on the forelegs that make a chirping sound when rubbed together. The scientific term for the chirping sound made by lesser water boatman species is called stridulating.

To produce the intense sound the water boatmen stridulate by rubbing a ridge on their penis across the ridged surface of their abdomen. This is a pyrallid moth Syntonarcha iriastis that uses highly modified genitalia to produce ultrasonic signals explained Dr Sueur. Only males produce species-specific sounds that attract females for mating.

The insect makes the loud sound by rubbing its ribbed penis against the ridges on its belly. When it comes to finding a mate some water boatmen are able to practice stridulation This means that they can rub their front legs against their heads which then creates a squeaking sound. Water-boatman species belonging to the genus Micronecta Corixidae Micronectinae are known to use sound for pair formation.

Writer Paul Evans accompanies sound recordist Tom Lawrence on a journey in sound across Pollardstown Fen to hear an extraordinary underwater orchestra. A freight train is about. How loud is a water boatman.