Functions of Chordotonal Sensilla in Bushcrickets (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae)

Abstract

Abstract Acoustic and vibrational sensitivity of single identified auditory receptors in bushcrickets was studied by electrophysiological methods. In the intermediate organ, some neurons were identified whose response to acceleration did not depend on the stimulus frequency over a significant frequency range; along with them, there were cells showing increased sensitivity to frequencies of 0.4–0.8 kHz for displacement, and/or 0.1–0.3, 1–1.2, and 1.4–3 kHz for all the vibration parameters. In addition, most of the studied receptors had a zone of increased sensitivity to highfrequency vibrations at 1.5–2.5 kHz. In the sensilla of the crista acustica, increased sensitivity was recorded at frequencies of 0.1–0.3, 0.4–0.8, 1–1.2, and 1.4–2.5 kHz. The best frequencies of a single sensillum may lie in different frequency ranges for different vibration parameters. Such differences in sensitivity to vibration acceleration, vibration velocity, and displacement, and also the different best frequencies in the receptors of the intermediate organ and the crista acustica were probably determined by differences in size, position, and morphological details of the sensilla, their own resonances, and reactions to resonance vibrations of the trachea section bearing the vibroreceptors. Thus, the chordotonal sensillum is a bifunctional mechanoreceptor which, along with auditory sensitivity, can combine the functions of both a displacement receiver and an accelerometer due to the different mechanical properties of its cells and the surrounding structures.