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The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 2375-2385 (2002)
© 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Squeaking with a sliding joint: mechanics and motor control of sound production in palinurid lobsters

Sheila N. Patek

Duke University, Biology Department, Durham, NC 27708, USA

Address for correspondence: University of California, Department of Integrative Biology, 3060 VLSB 3140, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USA (e-mail: patek{at}socrates.berkeley.edu )

Accepted 15 May 2002

The origin of arthropod sound-producing morphology typically involves modification of two translating body surfaces, such as the legs and thorax. In an unusual structural rearrangement, I show that one lineage of palinurid lobsters lost an antennal joint articulation, which transformed this joint from moving with one degree of freedom into a sliding joint with multiple degrees of freedom. With this sliding joint, `stick-and-slip' sounds are produced by rubbing the base of each antenna against the antennular plate. To understand the musculo-skeletal changes that occurred during the origin and evolutionary variation of this sound-producing mechanism, I examined joint morphology and antennal muscle anatomy across sound-producing and non-sound-producing palinurids. Plectrum movement and antennal muscle activity were measured in a sound-producing species, Panulirus argus. The promotor muscle pulls the plectrum over the file during sound-producing and non-sound-producing movements; a higher intensity of muscle activity is associated with sound production. The promotor muscle is larger and attaches more medially in sound-producing palinurids than in non-sound producers. In Panulirus argus, each shingle on the file has an additional ridge; in Palinurus elephas, the shingle surfaces are smooth. These differences in shingle surface features suggest variation in the stick-and-slip properties of the system. Translational motion permitted by the sliding joint is necessary for sound production; hence, the construction of a sliding joint is a key modification in the origin of this sound-producing mechanism.

Key words: stridulation, Palinuridae, spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, Palinurus elephas, joint, biomechanics, sound production, bioacoustics, stringed instrument

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