I'm looking to acquire/put together a low-cost setup to record ultrasounds from small insects (e.g. ants). I am particularly interested in the types of relatively cheap microphones that could be used for this purpose.
Here is work of a colleague of mine: Backus, E.A., Rogers, E.E., 2013. Optimising EPG settings to record blue-green sharpshooter x waves for future studies of grape host plant resistance to xf inoculation. CDFA Pierce's Disease Control Program Research Symposium. p. 3-10.
Although I can’t offer specific technical suggestions (microphones etc.), I leave here some suggestions for reading on the production of sound by immature insects (including caterpillars that mimic ants):
+ Downey. 1966. Sound production in pupae of Lycaenidae. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 20: 129-55;
+ DeVries et al. 1993. Comparison of acoustical signals in Maculinea butterfly caterpillars and their obligate host Myrmica ants. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 49: 229-38; and
+ Barbero et al. 2009. Queen ants make distinctive sounds that are mimicked by a butterfly social parasite. Science 323: 782-5.