Summary
The roles of certain abdominal muscles in ventilatory behaviour are discussed and illustrated with records of muscular activity obtained mainly from free-swimming animals. The following muscles are shown to be active during normal ventilation (V n): respiratory and anterior dorso-ventrals (RDV and ADV), longitudinal tergal (LT), diaphragm, sub-intestinal and adductors of the anal appendages (VADP). The posterior dorso-ventral, lateral primary longitudinal sterno-pleural, and dorso-ventral oblique muscles were found to be inactive duringV n. TheRDV, ADV, LT andVADP are also active during ventilatory movements other thanV n.RDV activity is shown to be more variable in the free-swimming animal than recordings from dissected and restrained preparations previously suggested. Activity in theADV duringV n shows a reciprocal relationship with that in theRDV. Postulated control elements in larval ventilation are found to parallel many described in other ventilatory systems and motor rhythms generally.
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R. S. P. wishes to thank the Science Research Council for a studentship during the tenure of which the above work was carried out. Thanks are also due to Mr. R. Stevenson and Mr. S. Jones for their assistance with technical matters.
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Pickard, R.S., Mill, P.J. Ventilatory muscle activity in restrained and free-swimming dragonfly larvae (Odonata: Anisoptera). J. Comp. Physiol. 96, 37–52 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00611961
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00611961