Morphology and ultrastructure of pharyngeal sense organs of <i>Drosophila</i> larvae.

Overview

1. Department of Genetics, University of Leipzig, Institute for Biology Leipzig Germany
2. MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge Biomedical Campus Cambridge United Kingdom
3. Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge Cambridge United Kingdom
4. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig Leipzig Germany

Abstract

This study provides a comprehensive ultrastructural analysis of the pharyngeal sensory system in Drosophila melanogaster larvae, focusing on the four major pharyngeal sense organs: the ventral pharyngeal sensilla (VPS), dorsal pharyngeal sensilla (DPS), dorsal pharyngeal organ (DPO), and posterior pharyngeal sensilla (PPS). Our analysis revealed 15 sensilla across these organs, comprising four mechanosensory, nine chemosensory, and two dual-function sensilla. We identified 35 Type I neurons (6 mechanosensory and 29 chemosensory) and 6 Type II neurons with putative chemosensory functions. Additional sensory structures, including papilla sensilla and chordotonal organs in the cephalopharyngeal region, were characterized. This detailed mapping and classification of pharyngeal sensory structures completes their structural characterization and provides a foundation for future anatomical and functional studies of sensory perception in insects. This work represents a significant step toward a complete analysis of the larval sensory system, providing new opportunities for investigating how an organism processes sensory information to navigate and interact with its environment.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Data

Datasets cited

• doi:10.5061/dryad.2fqz6135z, at Dryad; found in “Data availability”

Data availability

The STEM datasets are publicly available on DRYAD as of the date of publication (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2fqz6135z). Information on the reused whole larval L1 dataset can be found in Schoofs et al., 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.025) and Peale et al., 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.02.601671).

The following dataset was generated:

RichterV TriphanT CardonaA ThumAS 2026Data from: Morphology and ultrastructure of pharyngeal sense organs of Drosophila larvaeDryad Digital Repository10.5061/dryad.2fqz6135zPMC1369410142912436

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Version 1, 25 October 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 4 authors, 6 keywords, 7 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 92 references.

Cite

This paper

Richter, V., Triphan, T., Cardona, A., & Thum, A. S. (2026). Morphology and ultrastructure of pharyngeal sense organs of <i>Drosophila</i> larvae. eLife, 14, RP108036. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.108036

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