Central projections of axons from taste hairs on the labellum and tarsi of the blowfly, Phormia regina Meigen.

Taste hairs are located on the labellum and tarsi of blowflies. These multimodal hairs consist of four functionally distinct chemoreceptors and a mechanoreceptor. By staining selected multimodal hairs, we sought to identify the central projection patterns of multiple and single axons from those hairs. On each side of the labellum there are 11 "largest" hairs (LH). The neurons associated with the anteriormost (LH-1), posteriormost (LH-11), and one lateral (LH-6) hair on the labellum were stained selectively with cobaltous sulfide. The overall projection pattern in the central nervous system (CNS) for axons from LH-1 and LH-11 is similar and differs markedly from axons from LH-6. At least three individual axon-projection patterns were determined for each labellar hair filled, indicating a partial functional organization for axons from multimodal hairs. One identified axon, the dorsalmost axon, has terminal arborizations that do not differ with the location of its associated hair. Another axon, thicker than the others, projects to a region that is distinct from the four thin axons. Within this region the arborizations of the thick axons occupy different areas depending on the location of their associated hair. Neurons from the largest hairs on the distalmost tarsomere (D5) of each leg were also stained and consisted of one thick and four thin axons. All axons except one thin axon from tarsal D5 hairs terminate in their respective leg neuromeres. The remaining thin axon projects to the suboesophageal ganglion ipsilateral to the hair filled and terminates in the same region as a branch of the labellar dorsalmost axon. These data suggest that axonal arbors from multimodal hairs have a limited functional and somatotopic organization in the blowfly CNS.