Summary
The locust metathoracic femoral chordotonal organ is the largest sense organ in the hind leg. It has been intensively studied, and used as a model input system in studies of central integration of proprioceptive information. We have used electron microscopy, as well as whole nerve and single axon cobalt backfilling to show that previous descriptions of the metathoracic femoral chordotonal organ have failed to recognize a substantial group of small neurons distal to the known cell bodies. This distal group increases the number of neurons known to be present in the organ from a previous maximum of 55 to an average of 92. The axons of the distal neurons form a bundle separate from those of the proximal cells, suggesting that the distal neuron group is the homologue of the distinct proximal scoloparium of the pro- and mesothoracic femoral chordotonal organs. In the light of these findings several earlier studies of locust neurobiology should be re-examined. Future investigations also need to recognize the complexity of the metathoracic femoral chordotonal organ.
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Matheson, T., Field, L.H. Innervation of the metathoracic femoral chordotonal organ ofLocusta migratoria . Cell Tissue Res. 259, 551–560 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01740783
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01740783