The ecdysis of hair mechanoreceptors in crayfish

The fine structure of hair mechanoreceptors in crayfish during moulting was investigated with special attention to the interface apparatus between cuticular hairs and sensory cells: the chorda. The chordae are lost with old exuviae at every moulting. They are drawn out from a moulting canal at the tip of the new hair. The chordae are regenerated from a material secreted by sheath cells after moulting. Therefore, the chorda is an inward projection of the cuticular exoskeleton, and it has direct contact with the sensory element, the scolopidium. The scolopidium has been found in both hair mechanoreceptors and subcuticular chordotonal organs in crustaceans, and is thought to be a primitive type of mechano-sensory transducing element. The present observation gives additional evidence for the homology of two sensory elements in arthropods, i.e., the cuticular hair sensilla and subcuticular chordotonal organs.