When acetylcholine (ACh) and its agonists are injected into neuropile regions of the protocerebrum and the suboesophageal ganglion of male and female grasshoppers of the species Omocestus viridulus (L.), they elicit stridulation in a pattern no different from that of natural song. Stridulation can even be evoked in mated females which normally do not sing. By choosing suitable ACh agonists, nicotinic and muscarinic ACh receptors can be activated selectively. Activation of nicotinic ACh receptors produces individual song sequences with rapid onset; the stridulation induced by activation of the muscarinic ACh receptors begins after a longer latency, increases slowly in intensity and is maintained for many minutes. The sites within the cephalic ganglia where song can be initiated pharmacologically coincide with regions in which descending stridulatory command neurones arborize.
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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