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External sensilla of the locust abdomen provide the central nervous system with an interganglionic network

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Abstract

External mechanoreceptors and contact chemoreceptors on the cuticle of the sixth abdominal segment of locusts have divergent primary projections of their sensory neurons that form arbours in the segmental and anterior abdominal ganglia. Homologous interganglionic projections from adjacent segments converge in the neuropile of each abdominal ganglion. Of the contributing types of sensilla, three were previously unknown for locust pregenital segments: tactile mechanosensory hairs with dual innervation, external proprioceptors of the hairplate type covered by intersegmental membranes and single campaniform sensilla that monitor cuticular strain in sternites and tergites. In general, interdependence of motor coordination in the abdominal segments is based on a neural network that relies heavily on intersegmental primary afferents that cooperate to identify the location, parameters and strength of external stimuli.

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Acknowledgement

We thank Silvia Gubert for her expert technical help with electron microscopy and dextran staining.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Zoology Department, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt

    Ehab Tousson & Reinhold Hustert

  2. Institut für Zoologie, Universität Göttingen, Berliner Strasse 28, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Ehab Tousson & Reinhold Hustert

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  1. Ehab Tousson
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  2. Reinhold Hustert
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Correspondence to Reinhold Hustert.

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Tousson, E., Hustert, R. External sensilla of the locust abdomen provide the central nervous system with an interganglionic network. Cell Tissue Res 325, 151–162 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-005-0106-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-005-0106-z

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