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About the Cover
Cover: Mechanical phase shifter in the cricket left forewing. Male crickets produce tonal calls in the range from 2 to 6 kHz to attract conspecific females. Sounds are generated by stridulation: a plectrum on the left forewing tegmen strikes teeth of a modified vein on the right tegmen. Remarkably, both tegmina contribute to sound radiation; therefore, they must oscillate in phase to circumvent destructive interference. But the nature of tooth impacts causes both forewings to react in opposite oscillatory directions. To overcome this problem, the plectrum bears a mechanical phase shifter that changes the phase of the left forewing into that of the right forewing (see article by F. Montealegre-Z, J. F. C. Windmill, G. K. Morris and D. Robert, pp. 257-269). Illustrations and photograph by F. Montealegre-Z.
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