Scanning electron microscopic study on the mouthparts of Apis florea (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Abstract

-The present study was undertaken to examine sensory structures on the mouthparts in Apis florea Fabricius (1787) from north western region (India) using scanning electron microscopy. Ultra morphological details revealed that mouthparts of the dwarf honey bees were studded with different sensory structures including sensilla chaetica (A, B and C); sensilla basiconica; sensilla trichodea C; nodulated-form sensilla trichodea C; hair membrane plate sensilla; branched processes and cuticular plate sensilla, which made the organism efficient in forage detection and collection. Sensilla chaetica were found on prementum, galea, labial palps and the glossa and made flow of liquid food to the buccal cavity convenient. Sensilla basiconica were found on labial palps and served probably as a thermoreceptor and hygroreceptor. Cuticular plate sensilla on labial palps and hair membrane plate sensilla found on galea may serve to adjust the segments of the organ and act as mechanoreceptors. The identification and analysis of the distribution of various types of sensilla on the tongue of A. florea should be helpful when addressing questions on the ecological and systematic characterisation of the species in future investigations.Apis florea / honey bee / scanning electron microscopy / sensilla / mouthparts

Ultrastructure of sensilla on the maxillary and labial palps of three species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae)

“…SC4 and SC2 with long, nonporous cuticle wall and flexible sockets probably serve a mechanical function; moreover, they are described as odor receptors in the honey bee (Awad et al 2014). SC3 and SC1 (Table 3) are considered to have tactile and chemosensory function (Kumar & Kumar 2016). In this study, SF resemble the antennal sensilla of Dastarcus helophoroides (Ren et al 2012), Terrobittacus implicatus (Ma et al 2014), and Sitophilus granarius (Ali et al 2016).…”

“…SC4 and SC2 with long, nonporous cuticle wall and flexible sockets probably serve a mechanical function; moreover, they are described as odor receptors in the honey bee (Awad et al ). SC3 and SC1 (Table ) are considered to have tactile and chemosensory function (Kumar & Kumar ).…”

“…Moreover, they are reported to function as odor receptors in Cybister japonicus (Song et al ), Si. zeamais (Chen et al ) and Apis florea (Kumar & Kumar ).…”

“…Generally, SP are plate-like or sausage-like structures found on top of maxillary and labial palps. They are mostly reported to serve as mechanoreceptors (Zacharuk et al 1977;Giglio et al 2003;Faucheux 2008), or to have olfactory and chemosensory functions (Tichy and Gingl 2001;Kumar and Kumar 2016). Moreover, they are reported to function as odor receptors in Cybister japonicus (Song et al 2017), Si.…”

Scanning electron microscopy of sensilla on the labial and maxillary palps of adult Callidiellum villosulum Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

“…Considering that C. villosulum needs to lay eggs on dry bark (Dong, Dou, et al, 2020), developed SB IV and SCa may be highly helpful to the selection of oviposition sites (Xu et al, 2015). SCh, a mechanoreceptor, is widely distributed in the joints and the last segment likely because the joints are highly involved in mechanical, tactile, and chemosensory function (Kumar & Kumar, 2016; Liu et al, 2019). Previous studies have also shown that the density of sensors is closely related to sensing function (Dong, Dou, et al, 2020; Hu et al, 2020).…”