ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2011
The sense of touch in the star-nosed mole: from mechanoreceptors to the brain.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed.
- Developing broad brains: the importance of an early introduction to evolutionary thinking in undergraduate neuroscience programs.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- A somatosensory fovea in the fingertips of the Surinam toad.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Article
- REM-sleep twitching in adults and the maintenance of specialized sensorimotor systems.Current biology : CB · 2026Review
- Of Moles and Men: The Evolution and Design of Soft Tissue Forceps.Brain, behavior and evolution · 2026Article
- Ventral wing hairs provide tactile feedback for aerial prey capture in the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024Article
- Ecomorphological patterns in trigeminal canal branching among sauropsids reveal sensory shift in suchians.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- Mammalian-brain-inspired neuromorphic motion-cognition nerve achieves cross-modal perceptual enhancement.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Expanding Aesthetics.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Review
- The extrafoveal preview paradigm as a measure of predictive, active sampling in visual perception.Journal of vision · 2021Review
- Of mice and monkeys: Somatosensory processing in two prominent animal models.Progress in neurobiology · 2021Review
- A Cross-Species Analysis Reveals a General Role for Piezo2 in Mechanosensory Specialization of Trigeminal Ganglia from Tactile Specialist Birds.Cell reports · 2019Article
- Biomechanics in Soft Mechanical Sensing: From Natural Case Studies to the Artificial World.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Review
- Molecular basis of tactile specialization in the duck bill.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017Article
- Tests of the sorption and olfactory "fovea" hypotheses in the mouse.Journal of neurophysiology · 2017Article
- Behavioral pieces of neuroethological puzzles.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2017Review
- Evolutionary Specialization of Tactile Perception in Vertebrates.Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) · 2016Review
- The Case of the Disappearing Spindle Burst.Neural plasticity · 2016Review
- Compartmentation of the cerebellar cortex: adaptation to lifestyle in the star-nosed mole Condylura cristata.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2015Article
- Cortical plasticity within and across lifetimes: how can development inform us about phenotypic transformations?Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2013Review
- Barrelettes without barrels in the American water shrew.PloS one · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
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Abstract
Star-nosed moles are somatosensory specialists that explore their environment with 22 appendages that ring their nostrils. The appendages are covered with sensory domes called Eimer's organs. Each organ is associated with a Merkel cell-neurite complex, a lamellated corpuscle, and a series of 5-10 free nerve endings that form a circle of terminal swellings. Anatomy and electrophysiological recordings suggest that Eimer's organs detect small shapes and textures. There are parallels between the organization of the mole's somatosensory system and visual systems of other mammals. The centre of the star is a tactile fovea used for detailed exploration of objects and prey items. The tactile fovea is over-represented in the neocortex, and this is evident in the modular, anatomically visible representation of the star. Multiple maps of the star are visible in flattened cortical preparations processed for cytochrome oxidase or NADPH-diaphorase. Star-nosed moles are the fastest known foragers among mammals, able to identify and consume a small prey item in 120 ms. Together these behavioural and nervous system specializations have made star-nosed moles an intriguing model system for examining general and specialized aspects of mammalian touch.
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