在兩篇《自然》（Nature）論文報道“雄凹耳蛙有超聲通訊能力”和“雌凹耳蛙叫聲誘發(fā)雄蛙非凡趨聲行為”之后，6月14日,，《自然—通訊》（Nature Communications）發(fā)表了題為“超聲蛙聽覺頻率靈敏度顯示非同尋常的性別差異”一文，特別報道了中科院生物物理研究所“雌蛙對超聲沒有反應”這項重要成果,。該文的第一作者和通訊作者為生物物理所沈鈞賢研究員,。研究表明，作為通訊方式之一,，僅雄凹耳蛙進化了超聲聽覺,。
聲通訊在蛙繁殖行為中起著重要作用。已證實雄凹耳蛙有超聲通訊能力，但還不清楚雌蛙是否有超聲通訊,。生物物理所沈鈞賢研究員及同事進行聲學,、電生理學及激光測振實驗發(fā)現(xiàn)，將雄凹耳蛙求偶聲回放給雌蛙,，記錄到雌蛙對正常范圍叫聲的反應（趨聲,，有時還發(fā)出雌蛙特有的高頻短聲），但對超聲范圍(頻率高于20千赫)的求偶聲沒有反應,。
雌蛙中腦聽覺電生理研究進一步證實：在超聲范圍內觀測不到雌蛙有聽覺反應,。激光多普勒測振實驗也提示，雌蛙鼓膜對超聲不敏感,。他們認為,，凹耳蛙聽覺存在顯著的性別差異：雄蛙進化了超聲聽覺，而雌蛙聽不見超聲,。在脊椎動物中,，凹耳蛙是唯一已知聽覺性別差異如此巨大的物種。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Nature Communications DOI：10.1038/ncomms1339
Ultrasonic frogs show extraordinary sex differences in auditory frequency sensitivity
Jun-Xian Shen; Zhi-Min Xu; Zu-Lin Yu; Shuai Wang; De-Zhi Zheng; Shang-Chun Fan
Acoustic communication has an important role in the reproductive behaviour of anurans. Although males of the concave-eared frog (Odorrana tormota) have shown an ultrasonic communication capacity adapted to the intense, predominately low-frequency ambient noise from local streams, whether the females communicate with ultrasound remains unclear. Here we present evidence that females exhibit no ultrasonic sensitivity. Acoustic playback experiments show that the calls from male evoke phonotaxis and vocal responses from gravid females, whereas the ultrasonic components (frequencies above 20 kHz) of the calls do not elicit any phonotaxis or vocalization in the females. Electrophysiological recordings from the auditory midbrain reveal an upper frequency limit at 16 kHz in females. Laser Doppler vibrometer measurements show that the velocity amplitude of the tympanic membranes peaks at 5 kHz in females and at ~7 kHz in males. The auditory sex differences in O. tormota imply that ultrasonic hearing has evolved only in male anurans.
