According to a research, the water insect is the loudest animal on earth as compared to its body size.

The researchers from France and Scotland recorded the noise made by the water animal at 99.2 decibels, which was same as hearing a loud orchestra while sitting in the front row.

The insect produces noise by rubbing its penis on its abdomen and this is called as “stridulation.

The scientists expressed their opinion that the song or the noise is a way to attract its mate.

Micronecta scholtzi are freshwater insects measuring 2mm and are common across Europe.

In a research printed in a journal PLoS One, the researchers found that the small animals make a powerful sound.
The group of biologists and engineering experts recorded the noise made by the insect using special underwater microphones.

“We were very surprised. We first thought that the sound was coming from larger aquatic species such as a Sigara species (of) lesser water boatmen,” said engineering expert Dr James Windmill from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. “When we identified without any doubt the sound source, we spent a lot of time making absolutely sure that our recordings of the sounds were calibrated correctly.”

Dr Windmill gave an explanation why the human ear does not become deaf. The answer is the underwater lifestyle of the bug.

While transporting from water to air 99% of the sound is lost but then also the sound is loud enough to be audible by the human ear.

“The song is so loud that a person walking along the bank can actually hear these tiny creatures singing from the bottom of the river,” said Dr Windmill.

Mainly the biggest animals are also the loudest on Earth, with the sounds by blue whale having 188 dB and the rumbling calls of elephants measuring 117 dB.

A wide variety of significant acoustic signals are made by the invertebrates, including the miniature cricket and preying mantis, and by large mammals, no comparison is with M. scholtzi when taking the body size into account.

“If you scale the sound level they produce against their body size, Micronecta scholtzi are the loudest animals on Earth,” said Dr Windmill.

“We assume that this could be the result of a runaway selection,” biologist and co-author Dr Jerome Sueur from the Museum of Natural History, Paris, told the BBC.

“Males try to compete to have access to females and then try to produce a song as loud as possible potentially scrambling the song of competitors.”

Dr Sueur gave an explanation that competition could have enhanced the volume of males’ songs.

In many insects, the volume of the song is limited because it will be audible by the predators. But the findings reveal that M. scholtzi do not have auditory predators.

Changes

In order to make a sound the bug “stridulate” by rubbing a ridge on their penis across the ridged surface of their abdomen.

“There is a least another one insect producing sound with its genitalia. This is a pyrallid moth, Syntonarcha iriastis, that uses highly modified genitalia to produce ultrasonic signals,” explained Dr Sueur.

“Insects seem to be able to use any part of their body to generate sound. Some of them use their wings, others their legs, abdomen, head, wings, thorax etcetera.”

The area it uses to produce sound makes M. scholtzi extraordinary which measures only 50 micrometres equal to the width of a human hair.

“We really don’t know how they make such a loud sound using such a small area,” said Dr Windmill.

Without adapting to increase the sound, the question, how the animals physically make such a loud noise is still a mystery.

“These very small bugs create sound at very high level, and it could be very useful for future ultrasonic systems to learn how they do that,” said Dr Windmill.