{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T11:50:52Z","timestamp":1783684252790,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[1989,7,1]],"date-time":"1989-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":615254400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["The Journal of Physiology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1989,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>1. This is a report of experiments which provide evidence in support of the existence of an electric sense in the echidna, or spiny anteater Tachyglossus aculeatus. It is the first known example of electroreception in a terrestrial animal. 2. In each of four animals anaesthetized with alpha\u2010chloralose, afferent responses were recorded in dissected filaments of the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve which supplies skin of the upper jaw. Recordings were obtained from a total of forty\u2010seven units identified as electroreceptors, by their responses to weak voltage pulses using focal stimulation of the moist skin surface. 3. In the absence of a stimulus, some receptors had an irregular resting discharge; others were silent. The receptive field for each receptor consisted of a discrete spot. Receptive fields were restricted to the tip of the snout. Cathodal stimulation over the receptive spot was excitatory for the duration of an applied voltage pulse. Reversal of stimulus polarity silenced any on\u2010going activity and was followed by a post\u2010anodal rebound excitation. 4. Receptor threshold was best measured not in air but with the snout immersed in tap water. An electric field was applied between a pair of large plate electrodes on either side of the snout. Threshold for thirty receptors lay in the range 1.8\u201073 mV cm\u20101. Measurements of response latency and of conduction path length gave estimates of axonal conduction velocities for the afferent fibres of 10\u201018 m Receptors responded to sinusoidally changing voltage gradients over the range 0.5\u2010200 Hz with a maximum sensitivity at 20 Hz. 5. In one experiment a receptor site was marked with fine pins. Serial sections of the piece of underlying skin revealed a large mucus\u2010secreting gland at the marked spot. Similar glands in skin of the platypus have previously been shown to be the sites of electroreceptors. 6. In a behavioural experiment an echidna was trained to choose between two identical tap water\u2010filled troughs, one of which had a weak electric field across it. The animal learned to detect field strengths down to 1.8 mV cm\u20101 which corresponded to threshold for the most sensitive receptor measured in a subsequent electro\u2010physiological experiment. It is concluded that the echidna, like the other Australian representative of the monotremes, the platypus, has an electric sense. It remains to be determined what kinds of sources of electric fields the animal encounters in its normal habitat.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1113\/jphysiol.1989.sp017701","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,12,19]],"date-time":"2014-12-19T01:06:48Z","timestamp":1418951208000},"page":"521-538","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":49,"title":["Responses of electroreceptors in the snout of the echidna."],"prefix":"10.1113","volume":"414","author":[{"given":"J E","family":"Gregory","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A","family":"Iggo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A K","family":"McIntyre","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"U","family":"Proske","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1989,7]]},"container-title":["The Journal of Physiology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/api.wiley.com\/onlinelibrary\/tdm\/v1\/articles\/10.1113%2Fjphysiol.1989.sp017701","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1113\/jphysiol.1989.sp017701","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,22]],"date-time":"2023-10-22T13:15:05Z","timestamp":1697980505000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1113\/jphysiol.1989.sp017701"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1989,7]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1989,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1113\/jphysiol.1989.sp017701"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1113\/jphysiol.1989.sp017701","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0022-3751","1469-7793"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0022-3751","type":"print"},{"value":"1469-7793","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1989,7]]}}}