Meeting Abstract

P2.91  Sunday, Jan. 5 15:30  Flow sensing for flight control in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria MCCORKELL, FA*; TAYLOR, GK; BOMPHREY, RJ; Univ. of Oxford fergus.mccorkell@zoo.ox.ac.uk

In the absence of much passive stability, flying insects rely upon active stabilisation, necessitating the provision of rich sensory feedback across a range of modalities. Mechanosensors for measuring aerodynamic flows are the most ubiquitous systems on the bodies of flying insects; in our model species, the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, approximately 430 flow-sensitive hairs (trichoid sensilla) on the front of the head provide a highly directional response to the oncoming flow. The directional sensitivity of these hairs may allow them to sense changes in angle of attack and sideslip, and are thus potentially important in both lateral and longitudinal flight stability. We aim to test hypotheses about these sensory structures by establishing the exact flow stimuli they are experiencing, understand how the information they obtain is used in the stabilization and control of locust flight, and explain their highly specific placement and directional sensitivity. Here we characterise the flow stimulus around the head using particle image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics data.