Meeting Abstract
Many insect antennae, including those of house crickets (Acheta domesticus), are long and slender. These mechanosensory structures are used for tactile sensing; as such they readily bend in response to physical contact with objects in their environment. We analyzed the recovery of antennae deflecting around a fixed obstacle at four distances along the flagellum, and determined that 1) antennae exhibited elastic recoil, for both ventral and dorsal deflections, with antennae returning to their original position, suggesting there is a “resting shape” and 2) antennae barely oscillated if at all while returning from deflection, with the tendency to oscillate decreasing with a more distal deflection. This lack of oscillation demonstrates that antennae are mechanically damped. The damping decreases oscillation of the antenna after deflecting, hastening the return to the resting position and allowing the cricket antenna to more quickly respond to new mechanical stimuli. Measurements were made on restrained live crickets, with the head and joints associated with the scape and pedicel held rigid with epoxy, allowing only the flagellum to bend. The geometry of the curved antennae during bending at each distance suggests flexural stiffness (or EI) of the flagellum decreases in the distal direction.
