Jh. Fullard et al., Intensity responses of the single auditory receptor of notodontid moths: Atest of the peripheral interaction hypothesis in moth ears, J EXP BIOL, 201(24), 1998, pp. 3419-3424
It has been proposed that the most sensitive auditory receptor cell (Al) in
the two-celled ears of certain noctuoid moths is inhibited by its partner,
the A2 cell, at high stimulus intensities, We used the single-celled ears
of notodontid moths, also noctuoids, to test this hypothesis. The Al cells
of all but one of the moths tested exhibited non-monotonic firing rates, wi
th reduced firing rates at high stimulus intensities and showing no relatio
nship to the firing rate of the only other receptor, the non-auditory B cel
l. These results challenge the peripheral interaction hypothesis for Al fir
ing patterns in two-celled moth ears. An examination of notodontid Al adapt
ation rates and laser vibrometry results suggests that receptor adaptation
and tympanal motion non-linearity are more likely explanations for the non-
monotonic receptor observed in both single- and multi-celled moth ears.