Регистрация | Вход в службу | FAQ      [?] 
CiteULike is a free online bibliography manager. Register and you can start organising your references online.
Recent | Unread | Search | Authors | Tags | Export

Hearing in hooktip moths (Drepanidae: Lepidoptera).

by: A Surlykke, JE Yack, AJ Spence, I Hasenfuss
J Exp Biol, Vol. 206, No. Pt 15. (August 2003), pp. 2653-2663.


View FullText article


X Reviews [Write a review of this article]

There are no reviews of this article

X Find related articles from these CiteULike users

X Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

X Abstract

This study presents anatomical and physiological evidence for a sense of hearing in hooktip moths (Drepanoidea). Two example species, Drepana arcuata and Watsonalla uncinula, were examined. The abdominal ears of drepanids are structurally unique compared to those of other Lepidoptera and other insects, by having an internal tympanal membrane, and auditory sensilla embedded within the membrane. The tympanum is formed by two thin tracheal walls that stretch across a teardrop-shaped opening between dorsal and ventral air chambers in the first abdominal segment. There are four sensory organs (scolopidia) embedded separately between the tympanal membrane layers: two larger lateral scolopidia within the tympanal area, and two smaller scolopidia at the medial margin of the tympanal frame. Sound is thought to reach the tympanal membrane through two external membranes that connect indirectly to the dorsal chamber. The ear is tuned to ultrasonic frequencies between 30 and 65 kHz, with a best threshold of around 52 dB SPL at 40 kHz, and no apparent difference between genders. Thus, drepanid hearing resembles that of other moths, indicating that the main function is bat detection. Two sensory cells are excited by sound stimuli. Those two cells differ in threshold by approximately 19 dB. The morphology of the ear suggests that the two larger scolopidia function as auditory sensilla; the two smaller scolopidia, located near the tympanal frame, were not excited by sound. We present a biophysical model to explain the possible functional organization of this unique tympanal ear.


X BibTeX record

X RIS record



RIS BibTeX
CiteULike organises scholarly (or academic) papers or literature and provides bibliographic (which means it makes bibliographies) for universities and higher education establishments. It helps undergraduates and postgraduates. People studying for PhDs or in postdoctoral (postdoc) positions. The service is similar in scope to EndNote or RefWorks or any other reference manager like BibTeX, but it is a social bookmarking service for scientists and humanities researchers.