Abstract
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL techniques have shown that the responses of mechano- chemo- and olfactory receptors in insects are temperature-dependent1–3 and several true thermoreceptors have been described4–8. We have found thermosensitive cells on the tarsi of the tsetse fly that seem to be involved in probing behaviour. Electrophysiological recordings revealed spontaneously discharging cells in two hairs on the third fourth and fifth prothoracic tarsomeres. These hairs are part of two ventrolateral rows of hairs probably similar to the receptors (re) described by Lewis for Glossina palpalis9. No spontaneously firing cells were found on the meso- or metathoracic legs. Detailed studies were made only on the fifth tarsomere hairs.
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VAN HAGA, H., MITCHELL, B. Temperature receptors on tarsi of the tsetse fly Glossina morsitans West. Nature 255, 225–226 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/255225a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/255225a0
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