Physiology of atympanate tibial organs in forelegs and midlegs of the cave-living Ensifera,Troglophilus neglectus (Raphidophoridae, Gryllacridoidea)

✍ Scribed by Cokl, Andrej ;Kalmring, Klaus ;Rössler, Wolfgang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1011 KB
• Volume: 273
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402730503

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The complex tibial organs of the Ensiferan species Troglophilus neglectus (Raphidophoridae, Gryllacridoidea) do not differ significantly in their morphology in all six legs. They consist of a normal developed subgenual organ and an intermediate organ (when compared with the conditions in tettigoniids). Physiologically, the receptor cells of the complex tibial organs of the fore‐ and midlegs could be grouped into 11 functional types. Four of these types belong probably to the intermediate organ; the cells of these types respond to frequencies from 700 Hz to 2,000 Hz to both substrate‐ and airborne sound but are more sensitive to the former. The remaining seven types belong to the subgenual organ. Their receptors are tuned to stimuli within frequencies ranging from 200 Hz to 700 Hz. The classification into different functional types and their attribution to the two receptor organs were derived from a comparison with the physiological properties of the receptors of the complex tibial organs in the midlegs of tettigoniids. In the Troglophilinae the subgenual and intermediate organs are structurally very similar to those of the midleg receptor organs of tettigoniids; only the most distal part of the intermediate organ and the crista acoustica is missing. Consistent with the similarities in the proximal part of the receptor complex, the receptor cells of the subgenual and intermediate organs show similar physiological characteristics. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.