Hair plate

Hair plate neurons project into the ventral nerve cord where they arborize dorsally and around the leg neuromere.

Hair-plates are proprioceptors[1] and provide information to the nervous system about the positional and movement state of the body and legs.

[11][19] These encoding properties enable hair plates to signal the position and movement of adjoining body or leg segments.

[20] Therefore, hair plates provide rapid feedback to control the movement direction of the leg they are located on.

[21] Hair plates located at the leg joints provide sensory feedback for the control of walking.

Mechanosensory information from front leg hair plates also contribute to the regulation of feeding behavior in fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster[27].

Figure.1 Schematic of a hair plate. Hair plates are positioned next to folds within the cuticle, so that the deflection of the hairs signal the relative movements of adjoining body or leg segments.
Figure. 2 Lateral view of a cockroach antenna, showing the hair plates at the base.