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Figure 11 | Frontiers in Zoology

Figure 11

From: A new kind of auxiliary heart in insects: functional morphology and neuronal control of the accessory pulsatile organs of the cricket ovipositor

Figure 11

Functional mechanisms of the ovipositor pulsatile organs. Organs of abdominal segment 9 (upper graphs) and segment 8 (lower graphs) in two different phases of action. Ipsilateral compressor muscles of both abdominal segments (cm8, cm9) contract simultaneously, alternating with the other side. Thereby they compress the corresponding pumping chamber, i.e. the systole of the organs, and hemolymph is forced in a countercurrent flow through sinuses in the ovipositor gonapophyses (ga) and further back into the abdominal cavity. At the same time the opposite organs are in the diastole phase during which the pumping chambers dilate and fill with hemolymph from the abdominal hemocoel. Simultaneous lateral movements of the genital chamber probably support aspiration of hemolymph during diastole and hinder backflow at systole. Further abbreviations (numbers 8 and 9 refer to the respective abdominal segment, sometimes followed by an additional letter: d, dorsal; l, lateral; m, medial; v, ventral): aiv, anterior intervalvular sclerite; cs, coxosternite; opo, ovipositor pulsatile organ; gc, genital chamber; si, sinus.

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