The structure of supernumerary leg regenerates in the cricket

In many insects, grafting a larval leg onto the contralateral leg stump reverses one transverse axis and leads to the regeneration of supernumerary legs at each of the two points of maximum discrepancy on the graft/host junction. These operations were performed on the cricket Acheta domesticus, grafting between tibiae of pro- and metathoracic legs, and between tibia and tarsus, in order to deduce the mode of origin of the supernumeraries from their graft type, host type or composite structure. Supernumerary legs formed after A/P axis reversal are always half-and-half in structure, being of host type on the host side and graft type on the graft side, while supernumeraries formed after M/L axis reversal are variable in structure. These results are generally consistent with the recent Polar Co-ordinate Model (whereby supernumeraries form because the pattern of intercalation between graft and host generates two complete circumferences at the junction), provided that intercalation is restricted by the borders between anterior and posterior leg compartments. However there are features of the structure of the M/L supernumeraries which the Polar Co-ordinate Model does not explain. Medial supernumeraries are often of pure graft type (and lateral ones of host type) or half-and-half with anterior graft type and posterior of host type (while lateral supernumeraries often have the converse structure).