Summary
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1.
Many features of the arrangement of mechanoreceptors on the adult crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) tail are present in young animals; certain characteristic groups of receptors are seen in their proper arrangements as early as the first instar.
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2.
Sensory structures are added mainly to the most lateral regions of the telson, though there is some addition in medial areas and interstitially, within already-developed groups and rows of receptors.
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3.
The predictable arrangement of receptors in groups and rows, the addition of entire new rows of morphologically distinctive receptors in sparsely populated areas, and the addition of mechanoreceptors to already crowded rows indicate that the addition of receptors is non-random and also independent of the density of existing sensory structures.
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4.
When mechanoreceptors are added late in development, the associated primary afferents in the adult animal do not exhibit lower average conduction velocities than those of primary afferents associated with “pioneer” receptors. They therefore are probably not smaller cells.
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I thank Dr. Donald Kennedy for support and guidance during the course of this research project. I am also grateful to Dr. K.L. Chow, Paul Letourneau, Jeffrey Wine, and Donald Kennedy for reviewing and criticizing the manuscript. Dr. Richard Roth gave valuable assistance with the developmental studies, and Teppy Williams Dice prepared some of the illustrations. This project was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, NS-02944, to Dr. Kennedy; the author was supported by the Medical Scientists Training Program, under NIH grant GM-019-22.
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Letourneau, J.G. Addition of sensory structures and associated neurons to the crayfish telson during development. J. Comp. Physiol. 110, 13–23 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00656778
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00656778