Spatial perception mediated by insect antennal mechanosensory system

ABSTRACT Animals perceive their surroundings using various modalities of sensory inputs to guide their locomotion. Nocturnal insects such as crickets use mechanosensory inputs mediated by their antennae to orient in darkness. Spatial information is acquired via voluntary antennal contacts with surrounding objects, but it remains unclear whether the insects modulate behaviors mediated by other sensory organs based on that information. Crickets exhibit escape behavior in response to a short air puff, which is detected by the abdominal mechanosensory organs called cerci and is perceived as a ‘predator approach’ signal. We placed objects of different shapes at different locations with which the cricket actively made contact using its antennae. We then examined the effects on wind-elicited escape behavior. The crickets changed their movement trajectory in response to nearby objects such as walls so that they could avoid collision with these obstacles even during the cercal-mediated behavior. For instance, when a wall was placed in front of the crickets so that it was detected by one antenna, the escape trajectory in response to a stimulus from behind was significantly biased toward the side opposite the wall. Even when the antenna on the free side without the wall was ablated, this collision avoidance was also observed, suggesting that the mechanosensory inputs from one antennae detecting an object edge would be sufficient to perceive the location of obstacle in front. This study demonstrated that crickets were able to use the spatial information acquired with their antennal system to modify their behavior mediated by other sensory organs.