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Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity

Sam J. England,Ryan A. Palmer,Liam J O'Reilly,I. Chenchiah,D. Robert

Published 2025 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

ABSTRACT

Significance Our study reveals that the extreme morphologies seen in animals such as treehoppers may increase their sensitivity to electrical stimuli. We show that treehoppers can likely detect the electric fields of their predators and that sufficient electrostatic information exists in the ecology of treehoppers that they may even distinguish these predators from friendly bees using electrical cues alone. This introduces a level of sophistication not previously ascribed to the electrostatic sense. Furthermore, by demonstrating that the extreme morphology of treehoppers increases the strength of electric field stimuli around these animals, we suggest that the enigmatic function of their spectacular pronota is partly as an electroreceptor and that natural selection for increased electrical sensitivity may have contributed to their diverse evolution.

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