Trichobothria

Four trichobothria on the second leg of the spider Paratropis tuxtlensis

Trichobothria (singular trichobothrium) are elongate setae ("hairs") present in arachnids, various orders of insects, and myriapods that function in the detection of airborne vibrations and currents, and electrical charge.[1] In 1883, Friedrich Dahl observed that they were deflected by the sound waves from a violin and labelled them 'hearing hairs'. [2]

  1. ^ Morley, Erica; Robert, Daniel (July 5, 2008). "Electric Fields Elicit Ballooning in Spiders". Current Biology. 28 (14): 2324–2330.e2. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.057. PMC 6065530. PMID 29983315.
  2. ^ Reissland, Andreas; Görner, Peter (1985). "Trichobothria". Neurobiology of Arachnids. pp. 138–161. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-70348-5_8. ISBN 978-3-642-70350-8.