{"id":24172,"date":"2023-11-30T10:03:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T09:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/robinmeier.net\/?p=24172"},"modified":"2026-03-27T22:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:16:28","slug":"singing-with-the-insect-choir-a-culicomorpha-swarm-reacting-to-voices-of-two-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robinmeier.net\/?p=24172","title":{"rendered":"Singing with the Insect Choir: A swarm reacting to voices of two scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n        <section class=\"post-infos\">\n            <h2 class=\"post-infos__title\">Infos<\/h2>\n            <div class=\"post-infos__columns\">\n                <div class=\"post-infos__col post-infos__col--left\">\n                    <p class=\"post-infos__year\">2023<\/p><p>Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich<\/p>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"post-infos__col post-infos__col--right\"><p>Photography by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aureliecenno.com\">Aur\u00e9lie Cenno<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rspb.org.uk\/days-out\/reserves\/northward-hill\">RSPB Northward Hill<\/a>, North Kent Marshes<br>Funded by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hfsp.org\">Human Frontier Science Program<\/a> Research Grant No. RGP0038\/2019<\/p><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/section>\n    \n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mosquitoes reacting to sound: Singing with the Insect Choir\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/flvZhn-JI6Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1861, the entomologist Osten-Sacken refers to a Cuban naturalist who once told him that whenever the note \u2018A\u2019 was played by a band, the swarm of mosquitoes hovering over his head suddenly flew downward toward his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More recently, during their research on mosquitoes and chironomids, scientists Lionel Feug\u00e8re and Gabriella Gibson also noticed how these insects react to the sound of their voices. A musical relationship unfolds as night falls on the marshes of Northward Hill in northern Kent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bibliography:<\/strong><br>&#8211; Osten-Sacken, C. R. (1861), M\u00fcckenschw\u00e4rme und Musik. Ent. Zeitung. Stettin, p. 52. <br>&#8211; Maxim, H. S. (1901), The Times, Mosquitoes and musical notes. Letter to the Editor, p. 11, 28 October. <br>&#8211; Knab, F. (1906). The Swarming of Culex Pipiens, Psyche 13: 123-133 (PDF) <br>&#8211; Feug\u00e8re, L., Gibson, G., No\u00fbs, C. (2022), \u201dComment l\u2019entomologie et la musique peuvent se nourrir l\u2019une de l\u2019autre : le cas de la communication acoustique des moustiques\u201d, dans Lassauzet, B. et Montandon, A. (dir.), Les insectes et la musique, coll. \u201cGream\u201d, Hermann, Paris, p. 37-57. ISBN 9791037022493 (PDF) <br>&#8211; Feug\u00e8re, L., Sim\u00f5es, P.M.V., Russell, I.J. and Gibson, G. (2022). The role of hearing in mosquito behaviour. Chapter 26. In: Ignell, R., Lazzari, C.R., Lorenzo, M.G. and Hill, S.R. (eds.) Sensory ecology of disease vectors. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, the Netherlands, pp. 683-708. (PDF: <a href=\"https:\/\/hal.science\/hal-04116063\/\">https:\/\/hal.science\/hal-04116063\/<\/a>)<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@wiratunga\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1861, the entomologist Osten-Sacken refers to a Cuban naturalist who once told him that whenever the note \u2018A\u2019 was played by a band, the swarm of mosquitoes hovering over his head suddenly flew downward toward his face. More recently, during their research on mosquitoes and chironomids, scientists Lionel Feug\u00e8re and Gabriella Gibson also noticed how these insects react to the sound of their voices. A musical relationship unfolds as night falls on the marshes of Northward Hill in northern Kent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[25,27],"class_list":["post-24172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-works","tag-mosquito","tag-music"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Singing with the Insect Choir: A swarm reacting to voices of two scientists - robin meier wiratunga<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/robinmeier.net\/?p=24172\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Singing with the Insect Choir: A swarm reacting to voices of two scientists - robin meier wiratunga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1861, the entomologist Osten-Sacken refers to a Cuban naturalist who once told him that whenever the note \u2018A\u2019 was played by a band, the swarm of mosquitoes hovering over his head suddenly flew downward toward his face. More recently, during their research on mosquitoes and chironomids, scientists Lionel Feug\u00e8re and Gabriella Gibson also noticed how these insects react to the sound of their voices. 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