... legs. In insects, slope-dependent adjustments have mainly been examined under steady-state conditions, whereas the transition dynamics have been largely neglected. In a previous study, we showed that steady-state adjustments of stick insects to ±45 deg slopes involve substantial changes in joint...

... efficiency of finding foothold by avoiding searching-movements in trailing legs. In stick insects, a ‘targeting mechanism’ has been described that guides foot-placement of hind- and middle legs according to the position of their leading ipsilateral leg. So far, this mechanism has been shown for standing...

...Martyna Grabowska; Elzbieta Godlewska; Joachim Schmidt; Silvia Daun-Gruhn SUMMARY The analysis of inter-leg coordination in insect walking is generally a study of six-legged locomotion. For decades, the stick insect Carausius morosus has been instrumental for unravelling the rules and mechanisms...

...Matthias Gruhn; Lyuba Zehl; Ansgar Büschges SUMMARY In stick insects, walking is the result of the co-action of different pattern generators for the single legs and coordinating inter-leg influences. We have used a slippery surface setup to understand the role the local neuronal processing...

...Malcolm Burrows SUMMARY The stick insect Timema chumash belongs to a sub-order of the phasmids that is thought to have diverged early from other stick insects, and which is restricted to the southwest of North America. It jumps by rapidly extending the tibiae of both its hind legs simultaneously...

... as changes in coordination between legs. Moreover, the unpredictable variety of real life situations implies that compensatory responses should be sensitive to the behavioural context of the animal. We have investigated the extent to which the compensatory response of a walking stick insect ( Carausius...

... a behavioural transition do so at the same rate. The present study tests this assumption by analysing the sequence of kinematic events during turning of the stick insect Carausius morosus , and by measuring how the time courses of the changing parameters differ between legs. Turning was triggered reliably...

... walking, the coupling strength associated with these rules has never been measured experimentally. Generally coupling strength of the underlying mechanisms has been considered constant rather than context-dependent. The present study analyses stepping patterns of the stick insect Carausius morosus during...

...Harald Wolf; Ulrich Bässler; Roland Spieß; Rolf Kittmann SUMMARY The extremely slow return movements observed in stick insects (phasmids) after imposed changes in posture are termed catalepsy. In the literature, catalepsy is treated as a behavioural component of the twig mimesis observed...

..., the kinematic sequence of leg searching movements of the stick insect Carausius morosus is analysed. Searching movements are shown to be stereotypic rhythmic movement sequences consisting of several loops. The typical loop structure allows the mean tarsus trajectory to be calculated using a feature-based...

...Christian Bartling; Josef Schmitz ABSTRACT The ground reaction forces exerted by the legs of freely walking stick insects, Carausius morosus , were recorded during normal and perturbed locomotion. The animals walked along a path into which a three-dimensional force transducer was integrated...

...Thomas Eisner; Randy C. Morgan; Athula B. Attygalle; Scott R. Smedley; Kithsiri B. Herath; Jerrold Meinwald ABSTRACT Adults and nymphs of the Peruvian stick insect Oreophoetes peruana (order Phasmatodea) have a pair of thoracic glands from which they discharge a malodorous fluid when disturbed...

...Rolf Kittmann ABSTRACT An adaptive gain control system of a proprioceptive feedback system, the femur–tibia control loop, is investigated. It enables the joint control loop to work with a high gain but it prevents instability oscillations. In the inactive stick insect, the realisation of specific...

...Ulrich Bässler; Wolfgang Stein ABSTRACT It is shown that the low-pass filter characteristics of the muscle–joint system of the femur–tibia joint of the stick insect Cuniculina impigra result from co-contraction of the extensor and flexor tibiae muscles. The most distal region of the extensor muscle...

... ©The Company of Biologists Limited 1996 joint control muscle fibre orthopteran insects stick insect locust Carausius morosus Cuniculina impigra Locusta migratoria Investigations in the field of neuroethology have led to a detailed insight into the neuronal mechanisms...

...Ansgar Büschges; Josef Schmitz; Ulrich Bässler ABSTRACT Bath application of the muscarinic agonist pilocarpine onto the deafferented stick insect thoracic nerve cord induced long-lasting rhythmic activity in leg motoneurones. Rhythmicity was induced at concentrations as low as 1X10 −4 mol l −1...

...Josef Schmitz ABSTRACT The responses of retractor coxae and protractor coxae motoneurones and of the retractor coxae muscle to cuticular stress applied to the leg were investigated in standing and walking stick insects, Carausius morosus . The coxa of a middle or hind leg was restrained...

...H. Cruse; J. Schmitz; U. Braun; A. Schweins ABSTRACT The properties of the system that controls the distance between body and ground was investigated in the stick insect Carausius morosus . The insect walked on a lightweight double treadwheel under open-loop or closed-loop conditions. The open-loop...

...Rolf Kittmann; Josef Schmitz ABSTRACT The femoral chordotonal organ (fCO), one of the largest proprioceptive sense organs in the leg of the stick insect, is important for the control of the femur-tibia joint during standing and walking. It consists of a ventral scoloparium with about 80 sensory...

...G. Radnikow; U. Bässler ABSTRACT The course of the common apodeme of the tripartite retractor unguis muscle is described for the stick insects Carausius morosus and Acrophylla wulfingii . This apodeme travels through the femoro-tibial joint well outside the axis of rotation of the joint...