Chordotonalorgan

Chordotonalorgane are sensory organs of insects belonging to the peripheral nervous system. It is tubular mechanoreceptors that convey as an internal stretch receptors ( proprioceptors ) the animal position information.

In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, these receptors are attached at two points to the inside of the epidermis. In the embryo Chordotonalorgane be formed by three or five identical units, called Skolopidien. Each Skolopidium consists of four cells, a bipolar neuron and three additional cells, a cell caps (cap cell), a land cell ( ligament cell) and a sheath cell ( sheath cell). These are arranged as web-like structures, neuron attach to the epidermis or wrap, in order to protect it from contact with the hemolymph. In adult flies each Skolopidium has two or three neurons and multiple helper cells.

Also, the detection of Drosophila, the Johnston 's organ, named after Christopher Johnston, who described it in 1855, is a large Chordotonalorgan.

• Anatomy (eddy lots)