Aimed limb movements in a hemimetabolous insect are intrinsically compensated for allometric wing growth by developmental mechanisms.

ABSTRACT: For aimed limb movements to remain functional, they must be adapted to developmental changes in body morphology and sensory-motor systems. Insects use their limbs to groom the body surface or to dislodge external stimuli, but they face the particular problem of adapting these movements to step-like changes in body morphology during metamorphosis or moulting. Locusts are hemimetabolous insects in which the imaginal moult to adulthood results in a sudden and dramatic allometric growth of the wings relative to the body and the legs. We show that, despite this, hind limb scratches aimed at mechanosensory stimuli on the wings remain targeted to appropriate locations after moulting. In juveniles, the tips of the wings extend less than halfway along the abdomen, but in adults they extend well bey

SUBMITTER: Patel AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6739809 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature