"Just to grab your attention to a very interesting paper that recently came out which suggests that, at least at the larval stage, dragonflies can "smell" using their antennae. Also interesting is the fact that there is a difference in the type of chemicals each sex can potentially distinguish.
Although the paper is based on having located olfactory neurons on antennal sensilla, the evidence is very robust. As one reads the paper, inevitably is posed and challenged with many questions such as the use of such olfactory ability in the water, whether such ability is extended to the adult stage, whether the olfaction ability pre- dated water colonization, the origin of olfaction in Paleoptera, and a long etcetera.
I wholeheartedly agree with authors when they state: This study represents a starting point for further behavioral, electrophysiological, neuroanatomical and molecular investigation on Odonata olfaction
The source of this nice piece of work is:
Manuela Rebora, Gianandrea Salerno, Silvana Piersanti, Alessandro Dell’Otto, Elda Gaino Olfaction in dragonflies: Electrophysiological evidence Journal of Insect Physiology, Volume 58, Issue 2, February 2012, Pages 270-277
Alex"
En français, ça fait, en substance: "Une récente étude suggère, qu'au moins au stade larvaire, les larves pourraient "sentir" en utilisant leurs antennes et que le type de substance que les 2 sexes peuvent distinguer sont différentes.
L'étude est basée sur le fait que l'on a découvert des neurones olfactifs sur les
Les auteurs déclarent finalement que cette étude est un point de départ pour d'autres investigations."
