Many insect vectors of disease detect their hosts through olfactory cues, and thus it is of great interest to understand better how odors are encoded. However, little is known about the molecular underpinnings that support the unique function of coeloconic sensilla, an ancient and conserved class of sensilla that detect amines and acids, including components of human odor that are cues for many...

Pectines are unique, midventral sensory appendages that help direct mating and food-finding behaviors in scorpions. Dense two-dimensional arrays of bimodally sensitive (chemical and mechanical) peg sensilla form the primary sensory structures on pectines. Several qualities of peg sensilla make them well suited to electrophysiological investigation, including accessibility, stability of extracel...

Insects possess antennae equipped with a large number of segments (flagellomeres) on which sensory organs (sensilla) are located. Hemimetabolous insects grow by molting until they reach adulthood. In these species, the sensory structures develop and mature during each stage of development; new flagellomeres are generated at each molt elongating the antennae, and new sensilla appear. The praying...

We describe a modification of an existing tip-recording technique for electrophysiologically investigating short, peg-like sensory sensilla. On the mid-ventral surface of all scorpions are two appendages called pectines, which have dense fields of mechano- and chemosensory peg sensilla. One method for assessing chemoresponsiveness of these sensilla uses a tungsten electrode for extracellularly ...

We have examined the mechanisms underlying the development of the olfactory sense organs on the third segment of the antenna of Drosophila. Our studies suggest that a novel developmental strategy is employed. Specification of the founder or precursor cell is not governed by the genes of the achaete-scute complex. Another basic helix-loop-helix encoding gene, atonal, is essential for determinati...

The sensilla ampullacea on the apical antennomere of the leaf-cutting ant Atta sexdens were investigated regarding both their responses to CO2 and their ultrastructure. By staining the sensillum during recording, we confirmed that the sensilla ampullacea are responsible for CO2 perception. We showed that the sensory neurons of the sensilla ampullacea are continuously active without adaptation d...

Taste plays a crucial role in the life of honey bees as their survival depends on the collection and intake of nectar and pollen, and other natural products. Here we studied the tarsal taste of honey bees through a series of behavioral and electrophysiological analyses. We characterized responsiveness to various sweet, salty and bitter tastants delivered to gustatory sensilla of the fore tarsi....

The distal part of the galea belonging to the nymphs of carnivorous stonefly species – Perla marginata (Pictet, 1833) was studied by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). This species develops water-living, active and tactile predator nymphs, which use their mouthparts sensilla “to touch”, “to taste” or “to smell” the food and the substrate. The maxillary and labial palps, galea, gloss...

Morphology and behaviour of third instar larvae of the Holomediterranean antlion species Myrmecaelurus trigranunus (Pallas) are described. Larvae are facultative pit-builders, they either ambush their prey at the surface, or dig pitfall traps that prey fall in to. Dark brown spots on dorsal and ventral sides of the head and on dorsal side of the thorax are characteristic of the larvae. Eye tube...