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SUMMARY:Neuroethology of a striking crustacean\, the mantis shrimp - Dr Ka
 te Feller\, Dept of Physiology\, Development and Neuroscience (University 
 of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20180501T120000Z
DTEND:20180501T130000Z
UID:TALK101158@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Stephen Montgomery
DESCRIPTION:Stomatopods\, commonly known as mantis shrimp\, are known for 
 two things: their possession of the world’s most complex retina and thei
 r power-amplified\, predatory strikes\, which are the fastest known underw
 ater animal movement. Though much is known about the performance of both t
 he visual system and the mechanics of the strike\, how the visual informat
 ion is processed into the appropriate motor command for this ultrafast mov
 ement remains to be elucidated. Two hypotheses stand for how mantis shrimp
  control the charging and release of their predatory strikes. First\, sinc
 e the striking appendage is a power-amplified system like jumping insects 
 such as locusts\, the strike may follow a similar command neuron structure
 . The locust’s extremely fast escape kick is powered by stored energy in
  the hind femur that is then released by a stereotyped signal from a pair 
 of descending interneurons in response to a looming visual stimuli. Altern
 atively\, since mantis shrimp use their strikes not just for defence but a
 lso predation\, visual control of the strike may derive from the summed ac
 tivity of a neuronal population\, or encoding system similar to what is se
 en in aerial insect predators\, like dragonflies. These animals use a popu
 lation of descending neurons to encode vector information from a moving ta
 rget in order to track and pursue prey. Here I will present the results of
  extracellular electrophysiological experiments from the Mediterranean spo
 t-tail mantis shrimp\, Squilla mantis\, in response to visual\, mechanical
 \, and electrical stimuli. These data provide support for both hypotheses\
 , suggesting that mantis shrimp may use a hybrid of the two currently know
 n strategies for controlling ultra-fast limb movement.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology \, Downing Street
 \, CB2 3EJ
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