Sensory physiology.

Abstract

This chapter reviews the knowledge of those sense organ systems, which have been investigated in tree wetas (such as Hemideina crassidens and H. femorata), including auditory receptors, air current detectors, joint movement receptors, muscle tension receptors, vibration detectors and the visual system. For the comparative physiologist, the Anostostomatidae, and indeed the other stenopelmatoid families, provide a rich source of physiological mechanisms, which have only been glimpsed through the initial investigations described here. The unusual findings accumulated to date suggest that many variations on the main orthopteran themes are to be uncovered, including some that herald modern adaptations to local evolutionary pressures, while others may well be primitively retained features, which can give insight into the early phylogenetic history of these interesting families, as well as the Stenopelmatoidea as a whole.