LOST SONGS

(and the ears that could hear them)

ABOUT

The ‘Lost Songs’ project aims to understand the evolution of insect sound production and hearing through comparative anatomy, phylogenetics, palaeontology, and modelling.

For this, we study the Orthoptera (crickets, katydids, and allies); which have been singing and hearing for over 250 million years, and are the most diverse group of singing insects alive today.

Our work includes the reconstruction of ancient soundscapes from fossils, micro-CT imaging of living and fossil species to understand the anatomy of their sound production and hearing organs, and biophysical experiments validated with numerical simulations.

Our aim is to understand how, when, and why Orthoptera became the most dominant and diverse group of singing insects on our planet.

Publications

Gu J., Montealegre-Z F., Jonsson T., Woodrow C., Celiker E., Niamul M., Linde J.B., Sarria-S F., Shi F., Song H., Robert D. &, Ren D. (2026) Reconstruction of an extinct soundscape reveals ultrasonic communication in the Jurassic. In review at PNAS.

Woodrow, C., Celiker, E., & Montealegre-Z, F. An Eocene insect could hear conspecific ultrasounds and bat echolocation. Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.040‍ ‍

Woodrow, C., Baker, E., Jonnson, T. & Montealegre-Z, F. (2022) Reviving the sound of a 150-year-old insect: the bioacoustics of Prophalangopsis obscura (Ensifera: Hagloidea). PLoS ONE 17(8): e0270498. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270498‍ ‍

‍Woodrow, C., Pulver, C., Song, H. & Montealegre-Z, F. (2022) Auditory mechanics in the Grig (Cyphoderris monstrosa): Tympanal travelling waves and frequency discrimination as a precursor to inner ear tonotopy. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 289: 20220398. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0398‍

Woodrow, C., Judge, KA., Pulver, C., Jonnson, T. & Montealegre-Z, F. (2021) The Anders organ: a mechanism for anti-predator ultrasound in a relic ensiferan. Journal of Experimental Biology. 224 (2): jeb237289. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.237289‍ ‍

In the media

As part of our most recent publication, we provided reconstructions of the insect sounds of lost ecosystems for the 2026 Netflix documentary ‘The Dinosaurs’.

Lost Songs project members served as scientific advisors and palaeontological audio designers for the new series.

Contributors

  • Jun-Jie Gu

    Palaeontology, fieldwork, expertise in fossil Orthoptera

  • Fernando Montealegre-Z Lab

    Bioacoustic experiments, micro-CT scanning, and modelling

    https://bioacousticssensorybiology.weebly.com/

  • Dong Ren Lab

    Palaeontology, fieldwork, expertise in fossil Orthoptera

    https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ren-Dong-2

  • Hojun Song Lab

    Comparative phylogenetics of Orthoptera

  • Nathan Bailey Lab

    Phylogenomics, evolution, and behaviour of Orthoptera

  • Emine Celiker

    Numerical modelling and simulations of hearing and sound production

Funding and Support

Full list of contributors:

(please contact me if your name is missing!)

Jun-Jie Gu; Fernando Montealegre-Z; Thorin Jonsson; Emine Celiker; Md Niamul; Jackson Linde; Fuming Shi; Hojun Song; Daniel Robert; Dong Ren; Angela Stevenson; Brian Laney; Christian Pulver; David Rentz, Ed Baker; Fabio Sarria-S; Fernando Vargas; Glenn Morris; Kevin Judge; Ludivina Barrientos-Lozano; Ming Kai Tan; Nathan Bailey; Shannon Harrison; Tony Robillard; Winston Bailey; You Ning Su.