@article{fdi:010080114,
  title = {{O}ntogeny of air-motion sensing in cricket},
  author = {{D}angles, {O}livier and {P}ierre, {D}. and {M}agal, {C}. and {V}annier, {F}. and {C}asas, {J}.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{J}uvenile crickets suffer high rates of mortality by natural predators that they can detect using extremely sensitive air-sensing filiform hairs located on their cerci. {A}lthough a huge amount of knowledge has accumulated on the physiology, the neurobiology and the biomechanics of this sensory system in adults, the morphological and functional aspects of air sensing have not been as well studied in earlier life history stages. {U}sing scanning electronic microscopy, we performed a survey of all cercal filiform hairs in seven instars of the wood cricket ({N}emobius sylvestris). {S}tatistical analyses allowed us to quantify profound changes in the number, the length and the distribution of cercal hairs during development. {O}f particular importance, we found a fivefold increase in hair number and the development of a bimodal length-frequency distribution of cercal hairs from the second instar onwards. {B}ased on theoretical estimations of filiform hair population coding, we found that the cercal system is functional for a wide range of frequencies of biologically relevant oscillatory flows, even from the first instar. {A}s the cricket develops, the overall sensitivity of the cercal system increases as a result of the appearance of new hairs, but the value of the best tuned frequency remains fixed between 150 and 180 {H}z after the second instar. {T}hese frequencies nicely match those emitted by natural flying predators, suggesting that the development of the cercal array of hairs may have evolved in response to such signals.},
  keywords = {{E}uropean wood cricket ; functional morphology ; mechanoreception ; population coding model ; sensory development},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{J}ournal of {E}xperimental {B}iology},
  volume = {209},
  numero = {21},
  pages = {4363--4370},
  ISSN = {0022-0949},
  year = {2006},
  DOI = {10.1242/jeb.02485},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010080114},
}