- 1.
A rhythmic pattern of motor activity was recorded in the stump of an amputated leg during free walking in cockroaches. 2. During relatively rapid walking, extensor (depressor) and flexor (elevator) muscles in the intact coxa of the amputated leg showed one burst of activity during each cycle of bursting in an adjacent, intact leg. However, during slower walking these muscles could show two or three bursts of activity during each cycle of bursting in an intact leg. 3. Motor bursts in the stump of an amputated leg showed features similar to those of bursts recorded from intact legs. Burst duration increased with an increase in period, and the bursts generally showed consistent timing (phase) relative to bursts in most of the intact legs. 4. The motor pattern recorded in a stump was very like that recorded in an intact leg during walking, and unlike that recorded during searching for a foothold (defined in the text). It is concluded that after the amputation of most of a leg, motor neurones innervating muscles in the stump of the amputated leg continue to be driven by the interneurones that normally drive the intact leg during walking. Analysis of the motor pattern in the stump may therefore reveal important features of the locomotor control system.
In the field: an interview with Harald Wolf
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In our new Conversation, Harald Wolf talks about his fieldwork experiences working with desert ants in Tunisia to understand their navigation.
Propose a new Workshop
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Our Workshops bring together leading experts and early-career researchers from a range of scientific backgrounds. Applications are now open to propose Workshops for 2024, one of which will be held in a Global South country.
Julian Dow steps down and John Terblanche joins the JEB team
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After 15 years with the journal, Julian Dow from University of Glasgow, UK, is stepping down as a Monitoring Editor. We wish Julian all the best for the future and welcome John Terblanche, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, who is joining the team. Julian talks about his long association with The Company of Biologists and the journal and John tells us about his life and career in this News article.
The capture of crude oil droplets by filter feeders at high and low Reynolds numbers
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Researchers from the University of Montreal, Canada, reveal how tiny filter feeding barnacles and Daphnia entrap and consume minute droplets of crude oil, introducing the pollutant at the bottom of the food chain.
Patterns and processes in amphibious fish
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In their Review, Keegan Lutek, Cassandra Donatelli and Emily Standen discuss the biomechanics and neural control of terrestrial locomotion in amphibious fish. They explore how locomotor mode depends on body shape, physical constraints and phylogeny.
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