Vibration receptive sensilla on the wing margins of the silkworm moth Bombyx mori

Ai, Hiroyuki; Yoshida, Akihiro; Yokohari, Fumio

doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2009.10.007

Cited by 33 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Campaniform sensilla, which are domed structures without a protruding hair, on the wing of the blowfly detect deformation of the entire wing blade, but not airflow (19). Recently described bristles along the wing margins of the silkworm moth, typical mechanosensilla with a single receptor neuron, respond to vibration but not constant air currents as used in the present study (20). In contrast, airflow sensitive hairs are found on the head (8) or prosternum of many insects (9).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Bat wing sensors support flight control

Sterbing

Chadha²,

Chiu³

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

160

101

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Bats are the only mammals capable of powered flight, and they perform impressive aerial maneuvers like tight turns, hovering, and perching upside down. The bat wing contains five digits, and its specialized membrane is covered with stiff, microscopically small, domed hairs. We provide here unique empirical evidence that the tactile receptors associated with these hairs are involved in sensorimotor flight control by providing aerodynamic feedback. We found that neurons in bat primary somatosensory cortex respond with directional sensitivity to stimulation of the wing hairs with low-speed airflow. Wing hairs mostly preferred reversed airflow, which occurs under flight conditions when the airflow separates and vortices form. This finding suggests that the hairs act as an array of sensors to monitor flight speed and/or airflow conditions that indicate stall. Depilation of different functional regions of the bats' wing membrane altered the flight behavior in obstacle avoidance tasks by reducing aerial maneuverability, as indicated by decreased turning angles and increased flight speed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Bat wing sensors support flight control

Sterbing

Chadha²,

Chiu³

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

160

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In thrips, the bristles can spread out to unfold the wing, or collapse to fold the wing (Ellington, 1980), suggesting they may play a role in wing position and area. The role of wing bristles in sensing airflow and wing vibrations has been suggested for fruit flies, moths and other insects (Ai et al, 2010;Ai, 2013), and it is possible the bristles of some tiny insects also serve the same purpose.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bristles reduce the force required to ‘fling’ wings apart in the smallest insects

Jones

Yun

Hedrick

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

136

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The smallest flying insects commonly possess wings with long bristles. Little quantitative information is available on the morphology of these bristles, and their functional importance remains a mystery. In this study, we (1) collected morphological data on the bristles of 23 species of Mymaridae by analyzing high-resolution photographs and (2) used the immersed boundary method to determine via numerical simulation whether bristled wings reduced the force required to fling the wings apart while still maintaining lift. The effects of Reynolds number, angle of attack, bristle spacing and wing-wing interactions were investigated. In the morphological study, we found that as the body length of Mymaridae decreases, the diameter and gap between bristles decreases and the percentage of the wing area covered by bristles increases. In the numerical study, we found that a bristled wing experiences less force than a solid wing. The decrease in force with increasing gap to diameter ratio is greater at higher angles of attack than at lower angles of attack, suggesting that bristled wings may act more like solid wings at lower angles of attack than they do at higher angles of attack. In wing-wing interactions, bristled wings significantly decrease the drag required to fling two wings apart compared with solid wings, especially at lower Reynolds numbers. These results support the idea that bristles may offer an aerodynamic benefit during clap and fling in tiny insects.

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“…The distribution pattern of bristles along the wing margin is reported to be similar in Bombyx (Ai et al, 2010) and Pieris (Yoshida et al, 2001), in that the bristles are located exclusively on the ventral surface and are continuously distributed from the anterior to the lateral margin in the forewing, and from the anterior to the posterior margin in the hindwing, except in the vicinity of the wing bases. In the inchworm moth, Cheimatobia brumata, Vogel (1911) illustrated the same bristle arrangement as that of Bombyx and Pieris.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…These results indicate that sensilla located on the wing margins far from the articulation play an essential role in the regulation of the wing's own movement, in addition to the proprioceptive function of sensilla located around the articulation at the site of force generation. Ai et al (2010) also demonstrated that the wing sensilla of the small white cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae, generated neuronal responses to stimulation via vibratory airflow. These results suggest the possibility that the sensory bristles along the wing margins of a wide range of lepidopteran insects (butterflies and moths) may function as mechanosensilla, generating neuronal responses to vibratory stimuli.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Since wing-thorax articulation is distorted to generate the force necessary for wing movement, particular attention has been paid to proprioception around the articulation (Orona and Agee, 1987;Yack and Fullard, 1993;Frye, 2001). However, in a study of the silkworm moth, Bombyx mori, Ai et al (2010) reported that bristles (chaetic sensilla) distributed along the wing margin are wing beat receptors, and are likely to be necessary for maintaining the wing beat. These results indicate that sensilla located on the wing margins far from the articulation play an essential role in the regulation of the wing's own movement, in addition to the proprioceptive function of sensilla located around the articulation at the site of force generation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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