William H. Cade

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Dr.William H. Cade (Bill Cade) is a biologist and the president of the University of Lethbridge. He researches the role of acoustical signals in field cricket mating behaviour.

Education

Cade completed his BA, MA and PhD in zoology at the University of Texas at Austin. He studied with Daniel Otte for his doctoral work, and as an undergraduate, he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Research

In 1975, together with his wife, Elsa Salazar Cade, Cade discovered the parasitic fly Ormia ochracea is attracted to the song of male crickets. Only female flies are attracted to the song, and they deposit living larvae on and in the vicinity of calling males. The larvae burrow into and eat the cricket who dies in about 7 days when the flies pupate. This was the first example of a natural enemy that locates its host or prey using the mating signal of the host/prey.

Cade discovered a link between crickets and a parasitic fly. The mating call of the male field cricket (Gryllus texensis) is used by Ormia ochracea in locating the cricket. This small yellow fly is found throughout the southern United States and as far north as Hamilton, Ontario. The flies are predators looking for a host. Other species of crickets have since been found to be parasitized by the same fly around the world.

In late 2006, research by Marlene Zuk revealed the relationship between the cricket and the fly as one of the fastest examples of evolution ever recorded. Pressure from the O. ochracea has caused the crickets to evolve a silent male with wings that look like female wings.

Cade has a long collaboration with Dan Otte collecting and studying the crickets and grasshoppers of Africa.

External links

• Cricket Research: Being "Eaten Alive for Love" the Cost of Attracting a Mate
• Personal website
• University of Lethbridge president's page
• How to silence a cricket
• Crickets on Mute: Hush falls as killer fly stalks singers

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Last updated on Friday February 22, 2008 at 01:16:37 PST (GMT -0800)
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