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First published online October 18, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 4363-4370 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02485

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Ontogeny of air-motion sensing in cricket

O. Dangles^1,2, D. Pierre¹, C. Magal¹, F. Vannier¹ and J. Casas^1,*

¹ Université de Tours, IRBI UMR CNRS 6035, Parc Grandmont, 37200 Tours, France
² IRD (R072), c/o CNRS LEGS, BP1, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: jerome.casas{at}univ-tours.fr)

Accepted 10 August 2006

Juvenile crickets suffer high rates of mortality by natural predators that they can detect using extremely sensitive air-sensing filiform hairs located on their cerci. Although a huge amount of knowledge has accumulated on the physiology, the neurobiology and the biomechanics of this sensory system in adults, the morphological and functional aspects of air sensing have not been as well studied in earlier life history stages. Using scanning electronic microscopy, we performed a survey of all cercal filiform hairs in seven instars of the wood cricket (Nemobius sylvestris). Statistical analyses allowed us to quantify profound changes in the number, the length and the distribution of cercal hairs during development. Of particular importance, we found a fivefold increase in hair number and the development of a bimodal length-frequency distribution of cercal hairs from the second instar onwards. Based on theoretical estimations of filiform hair population coding, we found that the cercal system is functional for a wide range of frequencies of biologically relevant oscillatory flows, even from the first instar. As the cricket develops, the overall sensitivity of the cercal system increases as a result of the appearance of new hairs, but the value of the best tuned frequency remains fixed between 150 and 180 Hz after the second instar. These frequencies nicely match those emitted by natural flying predators, suggesting that the development of the cercal array of hairs may have evolved in response to such signals.

Key words: European wood cricket, functional morphology, mechanoreception, population coding model, sensory development

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				O. Dangles, D. Pierre, J. P. Christides, and J. Casas Escape performance decreases during ontogeny in wild crickets J. Exp. Biol., September 15, 2007; 210(18): 3165 - 3170. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]