Abstract Acoustic signals are part of the specific mate recognition system of planthoppers. The genetic control of acoustic signal characters was studied in the planthopper Ribautodelphax imitans . Artificial selection for interpulse interval in the female call revealed a large additive genetic component for this polygenic character. Other female call characters showed a correlated response. Some male call characters also appeared to be genetically correlated with the female character selected for, despite the rather different structure of male and female calls. Parent‐offspring regression provided significant heritability estimates for those male call characters that also responded to artificial selection in the female call, one of which appeared to be influenced by sex‐linked genes. It is argued that the differentiation of this mate recognition system in planthopper populations and species could be the result of founder effects, enabled by the genetic plasticity of the call characters and the existence of a wing length dimorphism in these animals.