Meeting Abstract

P1.93  Thursday, Jan. 3  Cricket antennae are mechanically damped (Acheta domesticus L.) SOWY, S.*; KELLOGG, D.; LOUDON, C.; University of California, Irvine; University of Kansas; University of California, Irvine cloudon@uci.edu

Many insect antennae, such as those of crickets, are long and slender. These mechanosensory structures bend readily in response to physical contact with objects in their environment. We analyzed the recovery of antennae deflecting around obstacles and found that (1) antennae deflected in a dorsal or ventral direction returned to their original position (presumably due to elastic recoil), suggesting that there is a “resting shape” for the antennae and (2) that antennae showed little to no oscillation during their return to the original position. These measurements were made on crickets (Acheta domesticus) that were alive but restrained, with the joints associated with the first two segments of the antennae (the scape and pedicel) held rigid with epoxy (there are no muscles in the remainder of the antenna, the flagellum). Therefore, the flagellum of crickets from this species are mechanically damped, decreasing their tendency to vibrate after deflection. This damping improves the ability of the cricket antennae to respond quickly to new mechanical stimuli. Grant support was provided to CL by the National Science Foundation IBN 9984475. Additional support was provided by the National Science Foundation EPS-0236913 with matching support from the State of Kansas through Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation.