Sensory Hairs with Permeable Tips on the Tarsi of the Yellow-Fever Mosquito, Aedes aegypti

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Abstract
The female yellow-fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti (L.), possesses approximately 100 tarsal hairs which stain at the tip when dye is applied to the external surface of the insect. The male has about 60 of these hairs. In both sexes the largest number occurs on the prothoracic tarsi and the smallest on the metathoracic. None were found elsewhere on the legs. The location and distribution of the hairs correlates well with the results of experimental work reported by earlier authors in which the sensitivity of the legs was tested to a variety of salt and sugar solutions. Little doubt now remains that the hairs with stainable tips are the tarsal gustatory receptors of the mosquito.

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