Scolopidia
![Left: Frontal view of a small fruit fly antenna. The scolopidia in the second segment (a2, pedicel) with their neurons are illustrated. Sound energy absorption leads to vibration of the arista and rotation of the third segment a3. The rotation leads to deformation of the scolopidia, leading to activation or deactivation. Right: The antenna located on the head of the fruit fly.](/Images/godic/202502/09/JO1cropped2519.png")
A scolopidia (historically scolopophore) is the most fundamental unit of a mechanoreceptor organs in insects. It is a composition of three cells, a scolopale cap cell which caps the scolopale cell, and a bipolar sensory nerve cell. Scolopidia are sensitive to things like sound (vibrations of the air) or substrate vibrations (feeling vibrations on a leaf, for instance) depending on the structure of the overall sense organ in which they reside.