Bifurcate sensilla on the tarsi of female black flies, Simulium venustum (Diptera: Simuliidae): Contact chemosensilla adapted for olfaction?

Abstract

The ventral surface of the most proximal tarsomere of each mesothoracic leg of the female black fly, Simulium venustum Say, bears approximately 60 bifurcate sensilla. Externally, a sensillum appears as a hair set into an asymmetric socket and with the distal tip flattened into two flared lobes. A single pore opens into a short groove at the base of the lobes. The hair shaft is divided into two lumina, one of which contains the dendrites. Each sensillum is innervated by four neurons, the dendrites of which extend unbranched to the pore. Sensillum liquor bathes the dendritic tips and extends through the pore into the adjacent groove and across part of the lobes. A sieve‐like structure exists in the pore region of many if not all sensilla. At least two sheath cells are associated with each sensillum. It is suggested that, although the bifurcate sensilla have the internal structure associated with known contact chemosensilla, they have secondarily acquired an olfactory function which is facilitated by the flattened lobes which increase the adsorptive surface area. Along each side of the bifurcate sensilla is a row of sturdy spines, each innervated by a neuron with a tubular body, a characteristic of cuticular mechanoreceptors. These spines are likely tactile sensilla.