Abstract
The distribution and external morphology of trichobothria in the whip scorpion, Thelyphonus indicus, and the scorpion, Heterometrus fulvipes, have been studied. While the whip scorpion has its trichobothria remarkably reduced in number to just 10 distributed on the tibiae of the legs, the scorpion has totally 96 trichobothria with 48 on each pedipalp. The sockets as well as hair shafts of the trichobothria on the antenniform legs of the whip scorpion differ widely in their appearance from those on the walking legs. The trichobothria of the scorpion resemble those on the antenniform legs of the whip scorpion, but differ due to the lamellated wall of the cup of the trichobothrium in the scorpion. The directions of mobilities of individual trichobothria in both the arachnids have also been mapped.
