In the family Onuphidae the styles of palps and antennae have very
conspicuous sensory structures. They consist of semicircles to full circles
(up to 10 micrometer diameter) of pores with smaller pores and cilia in the
centre. They are particularly well developed in the genus Diopatra where I
have used them as a diagnostic character. In most species they are flat,
while in others they are raised like little papillae and occur in more or less
regular longitudinal rows. They were described as 'Sinnesknospen' or
sensory buds by Pflugfelder (1929). I assume they are combined
sensory/secretory structures but have not done any TEM studies of them.
For SEM photos see: Records of the Australian Museum 38 (1986):page 8
Fig. 4 OR Zoologica Scripta 27 (1998): page 34 Fig. 2.
Cheers, Hannelore.
Hannelore Paxton
School of Biological Sciences
Macquarie University
Sydney N.S.W. 2109, Australia
Tel.: 61.2.98508162
Fax : 61.2.98508245
e-mail: hpaxton at rna.bio.mq.edu.au
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