MECHANOTACTILE AND OLFACTORY ANTENNAL SENSILLA IN 4 SPECIES OF FEMALE TABANIDS (DIPTERA)

This paper reports the loci, structure and numerical distribution of various types of mechanotactile and olfactory sensilla in four species of female tabanids, i.e., Tabanus rubidus, Tabanus striatus, Haematopota dissimilis, and Tabanus subcinerences. It was observed that sensilla chaetica were confined to scape and pedicel, while sensilla basiconica were confined to the first segment of flagellum. Sensilla trichoidea and sensilla stellate were distributed over all the segments of flagellum in all four species of tabanids, although they were present in maximum number in the first segment. The significant difference in the total number of various types of sensilla in different species has also been observed.