Abstract:Scorpions' sensory abilities are intriguing, especially the rather enigmatic ventral comb-like chemo-and mechanosensory organs, the so-called pectines. Attached ventrally to the second mesosomal segment just posterior to the coxae of the fourth walking leg pair, the pectines consist of the lamellae, the fulcra, and a variable number of pecten teeth. The latter contain the bimodal peg sensillae, used for probing the substrate with regard to chemo-and mechanosensory cues simultaneously. In addition, the lamellae… Show more
“…The pectinal teeth are equipped with numerous bimodal peg sensilla, which detect mechanosensory as well as chemosensory information of the substrate and increase in number during post-embryonic development (e.g., Brownell, 1988;Farley, 2011;Foelix & Müller-Vorholt, 1983;Gaffin & Brayfield, 2017;Hughes & Gaffin, 2019;Melville, 2000;Wolf, 2008Wolf, , 2017. Besides these bimodal peg sensilla, the pectines are covered with mechanosensory hair sensilla, which are hypothesized to elicit reflexive adjustment of body height and obstacle avoidance (Drozd et al, 2022). Due to the impressive number of peg and hair sensilla as well as the elaborated neuronal innervation (Brownell, 1998;Drozd et al, 2020Drozd et al, , 2022Melville, 2000;Wolf, 2008), the pectines are the most prominent sensory structures in scorpions.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Besides these bimodal peg sensilla, the pectines are covered with mechanosensory hair sensilla, which are hypothesized to elicit reflexive adjustment of body height and obstacle avoidance (Drozd et al, 2022). Due to the impressive number of peg and hair sensilla as well as the elaborated neuronal innervation (Brownell, 1998;Drozd et al, 2020Drozd et al, , 2022Melville, 2000;Wolf, 2008), the pectines are the most prominent sensory structures in scorpions. They are proposed to be essential for detecting prey and finding mates (Gaffin & Brownell, 1992;Krapf, 1986;Melville, 2000;Melville et al, 2003;Steinmetz et al, 2004).…”
Although scorpions have comparatively low regenerative potential, legs and pedipalps are able to regenerate some structures in an often incomplete manner. The most intriguing scorpion appendages are the ventrally located pectines. These organs are equipped with numerous sensilla that scan the substrate for mechanosensory‐ and chemosensory cues. Due to their ventral position and frequent substrate contact, pectines are vulnerable to traumatic injuries. Pecten malformations have been hypothesized to be the result of incomplete regeneration. To investigate their regeneration capabilities, the pectines of postembryonic stages of Euscorpius italicus (Herbst, 1800) were amputated before the second moult at three different positions. Data on intermoult periods and the number of pectinal teeth were gathered for approximately 2.5 years. The regeneration process on exuviae of up to six moulting events was documented by photographs and confocal laser‐scanning microscopy. Regardless of the amputation site, no evidence for regenerative capabilities of pectines in E. italicus could be reported. Thus, incomplete regenerations mentioned in the literature are likely the result of simple wound healing. Depending on habitat complexity, substrate contact time of the pectines seem to differ, which might be interpreted as a trade‐off between highest sensory input and the avoidance of traumatic injury of the pectines.
“…The pectinal teeth are equipped with numerous bimodal peg sensilla, which detect mechanosensory as well as chemosensory information of the substrate and increase in number during post-embryonic development (e.g., Brownell, 1988;Farley, 2011;Foelix & Müller-Vorholt, 1983;Gaffin & Brayfield, 2017;Hughes & Gaffin, 2019;Melville, 2000;Wolf, 2008Wolf, , 2017. Besides these bimodal peg sensilla, the pectines are covered with mechanosensory hair sensilla, which are hypothesized to elicit reflexive adjustment of body height and obstacle avoidance (Drozd et al, 2022). Due to the impressive number of peg and hair sensilla as well as the elaborated neuronal innervation (Brownell, 1998;Drozd et al, 2020Drozd et al, , 2022Melville, 2000;Wolf, 2008), the pectines are the most prominent sensory structures in scorpions.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Besides these bimodal peg sensilla, the pectines are covered with mechanosensory hair sensilla, which are hypothesized to elicit reflexive adjustment of body height and obstacle avoidance (Drozd et al, 2022). Due to the impressive number of peg and hair sensilla as well as the elaborated neuronal innervation (Brownell, 1998;Drozd et al, 2020Drozd et al, , 2022Melville, 2000;Wolf, 2008), the pectines are the most prominent sensory structures in scorpions. They are proposed to be essential for detecting prey and finding mates (Gaffin & Brownell, 1992;Krapf, 1986;Melville, 2000;Melville et al, 2003;Steinmetz et al, 2004).…”
Although scorpions have comparatively low regenerative potential, legs and pedipalps are able to regenerate some structures in an often incomplete manner. The most intriguing scorpion appendages are the ventrally located pectines. These organs are equipped with numerous sensilla that scan the substrate for mechanosensory‐ and chemosensory cues. Due to their ventral position and frequent substrate contact, pectines are vulnerable to traumatic injuries. Pecten malformations have been hypothesized to be the result of incomplete regeneration. To investigate their regeneration capabilities, the pectines of postembryonic stages of Euscorpius italicus (Herbst, 1800) were amputated before the second moult at three different positions. Data on intermoult periods and the number of pectinal teeth were gathered for approximately 2.5 years. The regeneration process on exuviae of up to six moulting events was documented by photographs and confocal laser‐scanning microscopy. Regardless of the amputation site, no evidence for regenerative capabilities of pectines in E. italicus could be reported. Thus, incomplete regenerations mentioned in the literature are likely the result of simple wound healing. Depending on habitat complexity, substrate contact time of the pectines seem to differ, which might be interpreted as a trade‐off between highest sensory input and the avoidance of traumatic injury of the pectines.
Many sand scorpions are faithful to the burrows they dig; however, it is unknown how these animals get back home after hunting excursions. Of the many mechanisms of homing that exist, path integration (PI) is one of the more common tools used by arachnids. In PI, an animal integrates its distance and direction while leaving its home, enabling it to compute an approximate homebound vector for the return trip. The objective of our study was to test whether scorpions use PI to return home under absolute darkness in the lab. We first allowed the animals to establish burrows in homing arenas. Then, after they left their burrow, we recorded the scorpion’s location in the homing arena before we transferred it to the center of the testing arena. We used overhead IR cameras to record its movements in the testing arena. If scorpions exhibited PI, we predicted they would follow a vector in the test arena that approximated the same angle and distance from the capture point to their burrow in their home arena. However, under the conditions of this experiment, we found no evidence that scorpions moved along such homebound vectors. We speculated that scorpions may need a reliable reference cue to accommodate path integration.
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