Part 4/6:
How Mosquito Antennae Work
The team at Purdue is studying the biomechanics of mosquito antennae to understand how these insect structures detect vibrations. The antennas consist of several components: a main shaft and numerous sensory hairs that act as pressure wave detectors. When vibrations occur, these hairs bend and cause the shaft to vibrate correspondingly.
This vibration is transmitted to a specialized sensory organ known as the Johnston’s organ, which processes the vibrations and relays the information to the mosquito’s nervous system. The entire process allows mosquitoes to localize sound sources with remarkable precision, even in challenging auditory environments.