Figure 6

Genital chamber and ovipositor pulsatile organs, their movements and pumping activity. (A) Schematic dorsal view of genital chamber (gc) and ovipositor pulsatile organ 9 (opo9) diagramming their synchronous tilting (green arrows) due to contractions of the muscles m2 and compressor muscle (cm9, red arrows). This results in lateral tilting of the internal cuticular ridge (ci, grey bar) and hemolymph flow into the ipsi-lateral sinus 9 (si9l, blue arrow); overlying tg outlined in light blue. (B) Bursting pattern of the anterior muscle pair (m2) of the gc during left-right tilting (middle trace, arrows) recorded from their surface by suction electrodes; movements of gc recorded with a piezoelectric tongue. (C) Synchronous rhythm of gc and opo9 recorded ipsilaterally from the muscle surfaces (stippled arrows). (D) Ventral view of the ovipositor pulsatile organ 8 (opo8) after removal of the subgenital plate up to sternite 7 (st7) with the two alternating stages of left-right contraction (outlined with red stippling). The median part of the soft-walled bulge is drawn laterally (hemolymph pressurized inside) while that of the other bulge expands at the same time medially (hemolymph drawn in from abdominal hemocoel).