Figure 2: Rhythmic titillator movements of the male (left) open the female’s genital fold (fgf, on the right), revealed by X-ray imaging.
From: Copulatory courtship by internal genitalia in bushcrickets
The images were extracted from the video, which was recorded at 50 fps, 3.6x magnifications, and 3.06 μm pixel size. The external parts of the titillators are colored in green, the titillator basis is concealed within the male’s abdominal tissues. (A) The male’s titillators (t1 and t2, green) contact the female’s genital fold (fgf, yellow, the yellow line indicates the aperture of the fgf) and begin to push it down (green arrow). (B) The female’s genital fold opens wider (yellow arrow, the slope of the yellow line becomes steeper), while the titillators push it downwards. In the meantime, the male’s phallobasis (pb, purple) is touching the female’s ovipositor (o). (C) The titillators are retracted (green arrow) and the female’s genital fold is moving upwards in its initial position (yellow arrow, the slope of the yellow line levels out).
