Beetles of the genus Melanophila and certain flat bugs of the genus Aradus actually approach forest fires. For the detection of fires and of hot surfaces the pyrophilous species of both genera have developed infrared (IR) receptors, which have developed from common hair mechanoreceptors. Thus, this type of insect IR receptor has been termed photomechanic and shows the following two special feat...

Scans of slash pine wood chips infested with pine wood nematodes showed coiled aggregates of 5-10 nematodes in the axial resin canals, and 1-2 nematodes folded in the radial resin canals. Observations of the pine wood nematode by SEM showed the head to be offset with six labial lobes. A smaller circle of six inner lobes surrounded the stoma. A single labial sensillum was observed on each of the...

The sesquiterpene (E)-β-farnesene (EBF) is the alarm pheromone for many species of aphids [1]. When released from aphids attacked by parasitoids or predators, it alerts nearby conspecifics to escape by walking away and dropping off the host plant [2, 3]. The reception of alarm pheromone in aphids is accomplished through a highly sensitive chemosensory system. Although olfaction-related gene fam...

Male moths rely on olfactory cues to find females for reproduction. Males also use volatile plant compounds (VPCs) to find food sources and might use host-plant odor cues to identify the habitat of calling females. Both the sex pheromone released by conspecific females and VPCs trigger well-described oriented flight behavior toward the odor source. Whereas detection and central processing of ph...

In many insect species, odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are thought to be responsible for the transport of pheromones and other semiochemicals across the sensillum lymph to the olfactory receptors (ORs) within the antennal sensilla. In the silkworm Bombyx mori, the OBPs are subdivided into three main subfamilies; pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs), general odorant-binding proteins (GOBPs) and an...

Antennal sensilla of some forensically important fly species in the families Calliphoridae (Chrysomya megacephala, Chrysomya rufifacies, Chrysomya nigripes and Lucilia cuprina), Sarcophagidae (Parasarcophaga dux) and Muscidae (Musca domestica) were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Five types of sensilla were observed: trichoid, basiconic, coeloconic, styloconic and sensory pit. Only ...

With only approximately 50 olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), the carrot psyllid Trioza apicalis (Homoptera: Psylloidea) may have the smallest olfactory system described in adult Neopteran insects. Using single sensillum recordings (SSR) and gas chromatograph-linked SSR, we characterized 4 olfactory sensilla forming a distinct morphological type, which together house approximately 25% of all OR...

The enormous capacity of the male silkmoth Bombyx mori in recognizing and discriminating bombykol and bombykal is based on distinct sensory neurons in the antennal sensilla hairs. The hydrophobic pheromonal compounds are supposed to be ferried by soluble pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) through the sensillum lymph toward the receptors in the dendritic membrane. We have generated stable cell li...

Taste receptors have recently been reported in Drosophila [1,2], but little is known of the relation between receptor and response. Morphological studies of the distribution of chemosensory sensilla indicate that the fruit fly has two major sites of gustation: the proboscis and the legs [3]. The taste sensilla on both these sites are similar in structure and each sensillum generally houses four...

The sensilla trichodea of the silkmoth Antheraea polyphemus are innervated by three types of receptor neurons each responding specifically to one of three pheromone components. The sensillum lymph of these sensilla surrounding the sensory dendrites contains three different types of pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) in high concentrations. The sensilla trichodea of the silkmoth Bombyx mori are s...