Modelling the subgenual organ of the honeybee, Apis mellifera |
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Authors: | Jesper Storm Ole Kilpinen |
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Institution: | (1) Centre for Sound Communication, Institute of Biology, Odense University, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark, DK |
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Abstract: | In a recent study on the honeybee (Apis mellifera), the subgenual organ was observed moving inside the leg during sinusoidal vibrations of the leg (Kilpinen and Storm 1997).
The subgenual organ of the honeybee is suspended in a haemolymph channel in the tibia of each leg. When the leg accelerates,
the inertia causes the haemolymph and the subgenual organ to lag behind the movement of the rest of the leg. To elucidate
the biophysics of the subgenual organ system of the honeybee, two mathematical models to simulate the experimentally observed
mechanical response are considered. The models are a classical mass-spring model and a newly developed tube model consisting
of an open-ended, fluid-filled tube occluded by an elastic structure midway. Both models suggest that the subgenual organ
included in the haemolymph channel resembles that of an overdamped system. In resembling the biophysics of the subgenual organ
system in the honeybee, we consider the tube model to be the better of the two because it simulates a mechanical response
which complies best with the experimental data, and the physical parameters in the model can be related to the␣constituent
parts of the subgenual organ included in the haemolymph channel.
Received: 25 July 1997 / Accepted in revised form: 8 December 1997 |
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