Leaf-borne vibrations are predicted to be significant for caterpillar communication and risk assessment, but the caterpillar’s vibratory landscape remains largely unknown. To address this, we used the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda, as a model in our study with two main goals: (1) to characterize the vibratory landscape on a leaf in the presence of abiotic (wind and rain) and biotic (conspecifics and invertebrate predator) stimuli; and (2) to assess whether different larval instars detect and respond to those vibrations. Our findings show that abiotic and biotic vibrations were distinct from background noise, except for those produced by 1st instar larvae. Wind-induced leaf movement produced vibrations with a low-frequency and high-amplitude (< 100 Hz and 2.97 mm s⁻¹), in contrast with raindrops (> 174 Hz; 3.25 mm s⁻¹). The 2nd to 5th instar larvae and predatory stinkbugs moving on leaves produced vibrations with dominant frequencies ranging from 140 to 326 Hz and amplitudes from 1.42 to 2.95 mm s⁻¹. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of vibrations across bean leaves revealed that abiotic vibrations were more widely spread across leaves, unlike the more concentrated biotic vibrations. Regarding the caterpillar response to vibratory stimuli, caterpillars exposed to abiotic stimuli behaved differently from undisturbed caterpillars, regardless of instar. By contrast, caterpillars exposed to biotic stimuli do not respond consistently. Our findings contribute insights into a caterpillar’s vibroscape and support the hypothesis that armyworms can perceive and respond to both abiotic and biotic vibrations, filling a knowledge gap about this economically important pest species' sensory ecology.

预计叶传振动对于毛虫的交流和风险评估具有重要意义，但毛虫的振动景观在很大程度上仍然未知。为了解决这个问题，我们使用秋季粘虫Spodoptera frugiperda作为我们研究中的模型，有两个主要目标：（1）在非生物（风和雨）和生物（同种和无脊椎动物）存在的情况下表征叶子上的振动景观捕食者）刺激；(2) 评估不同的幼虫是否能检测到这些振动并做出反应。我们的研究结果表明，非生物和生物振动与背景噪声不同，除了由 1 龄幼虫产生的那些。风引起的叶片运动产生低频和高振幅的振动（< 100 Hz 和 2.97 mm s ^-1)，与雨滴 (> 174 Hz; 3.25 mm s ^-1 ) 形成对比。第 2 到第 5 龄幼虫和在叶子上移动的捕食性臭虫产生的振动频率范围为 140 至 326 Hz，振幅为 1.42 至 2.95 mm s ^-1. 此外，豆叶上振动的空间分布表明，与更集中的生物振动不同，非生物振动更广泛地分布在叶片上。关于毛虫对振动刺激的反应，暴露于非生物刺激的毛虫的行为与未受干扰的毛虫不同，无论其龄如何。相比之下，暴露于生物刺激的毛虫反应不一致。我们的研究结果有助于深入了解毛虫的振动景观，并支持粘虫可以感知和响应非生物和生物振动的假设，填补了关于这种经济上重要的害虫物种感官生态学的知识空白。