EAPSI:Investigating an Unknown Sensory Structure in Eastern Leaf-dwelling Praying Mantises

感觉系统在调节有机体中扮演什么角色？环境对于我们理解信息是如何被感知和处理的至关重要。一种潜在的新感觉器官，即胸骨结节，在一种生活在阔叶植被下的叶栖螳螂（Mantodea, Iridopterygidae）中被发现，这是Mantodea中独特的生态位。本研究旨在揭示感觉器官编码的环境信息。这项工作将与博士合作进行。Marie Herberstein和Kate Barry是澳大利亚悉尼麦考瑞大学著名的动物行为学和生态学研究人员。表征一个新的感觉器官将提供进一步的见解神经系统，因为它们涉及到生态位专业化。对胸骨结节的初步研究显示，其表面有数量可变的关节表面毛发，表明其具有机械感觉功能，组织学切片发现结构内存在神经组织。将进行行为和神经生理学分析，以确定胸骨结节调节的行为；结构内神经组织的细胞外记录将最终证明当结构受到刺激时产生的神经活动。这项研究旨在揭示胸骨结节。在群体背景下的生理作用？独特的栖息地利用。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会和澳大利亚科学院共同资助，隶属于东亚和太平洋暑期研究所项目，支持美国研究生进行暑期研究。

The role sensory systems play in mediating an organism?s environment is critical to developing our understanding of how information is perceived and processed. A potentially new sensory organ, the furcasternal tubercle, was discovered within a family of leaf-dwelling praying mantises (Mantodea, Iridopterygidae) that reside on the undersides of broad-leaf vegetation, a unique ecological niche within Mantodea. This research seeks to uncover the environmental information that the sensory organ encode. The work will be conducted in collaboration with Drs. Marie Herberstein and Kate Barry, prominent researchers in ethology and ecology, at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. The characterization of a novel sensory organ will provide further insights into neural systems as they relate to ecological niche specialization.Preliminary investigations of the furcasternal tubercle revealed that it is surfaced with a variable number of articulating surface hairs, suggesting a mechanosensory function, and histological sectioning uncovered the presence of neural tissue within the structure. Behavioral and neurophysiological assays will be conducted to determine what behaviors the furcasternal tubercle modulates; extracellular recordings from the neural tissues within the structure will conclusively demonstrate the neural activity generated when the structure is stimulated. This research seeks to uncover the furcasternal tubercle?s physiological role within the context of the group?s unique habitat use. This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Australian Academy of Science.