ABSTRACT
The present work was directed to study the possibility of using ultrastructure and electro-physiological techniques to distinguish all the sensory sensilla on the antennae and tarsi of female S. littoralis, as a trail to understand the insect chemical communication system. Relatively little is still known about the types, location and functions of S. littoralis sensory organs. The sensory organs on the antennae and on the tarsi of female S. littoralis were visualized by scanning and transmission elect-ron microscopy. The surface of the tarsus is covered with scales overlapped together and is provided with sense sensilla that found on the ventral and lateral surface of the tarsus. Two basic types of sensilla were found on the tarsus of the prothoracic legs, the mechano-sensory sensilla (squamiformia) that have one neuron, and the contact chemosensory sensilla (trichodeum, chaeticum and styloconica) that are multimodal receptors and have five neurons. While three basic types of sensilla were identified on the antennae, mechano-sensory sensilla (squamiformia, chaeticum, auricillica and coeloconia), chemosensory sensilla as on the tarsus (styloconica, basico-nica and small chemoreceptor pag) and olfact-ory sensilla (trichodeum) that have many neurons. The identification of the different types of sensilla on the tarsus and antenna will serve for electrophysiological studies, which can be made on them to clarify their functions.
Key words:
S. littoralis, Sense organs, SEM, TEM, Electrophysiology, Tip recording technique. |
