Filiform antennae (long and tapering) like those of the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) can be used as mechanosensory structures. The antennae bend readily during contact with obstacles in the environment and once they are released from bending, the antennae will reposition to their original position. We analyzed the recovery of antennae after deflection and during bending. Measurements were made on restrained live crickets. The head, and joints at the scape and pedicel were fixed to be rigid with epoxy, allowing only the flagellum to bend passively around a fixed obstacle. We determined 1) the antennae returned quickly to their initial positions after being perturbed in either ventral or dorsal directions with a time constant for an exponential decay of 1/e = 40 ms and 2) antennae rarely oscillated while returning from the deflection, with the tendency to oscillate decreasing with a more distal deflection 3) The exponential tapering of the antennae affects the static bending behavior. The tapering of the antennae has impact on the ability of the antennae to bend in tight curvatures without breaking and the oscillatory behavior. We found evidence the antennae are damped as they recover from a perturbation. The level of damping of a structure determines a degree of trade-off in speed of the return and suppression of oscillations. Critical damping provides quick recovery as the antennae return as quickly as possible but do not oscillate.
