Ultrastructure and electrophysiology of thermosensitive sensilla coeloconica in a tropical katydid of the genus Mecopoda (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae)

We could identify three distinct types of sensilla coeloconica based on differences in the number and branching pattern of their dendrites. Physiological recordings revealed the innervation by antagonistically responding thermoreceptors (cold and warm) and bimodal hygro-/thermoreceptors (moist or dry) in various combinations. Our findings indicate that Mecopoda sp. females are capable of detecting a singing male from distances of at least several centimetres solely by assessing thermal cues.