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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Sep 7.
Published in final edited form as: Annu Rev Neurosci. 2017 Jul 25;40:231–250. doi: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-072116-031312

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Magnetosensory loci across organisms. Many organisms have been found to orient to the earth’s magnetic field with different sensory structures. (a) Magnetotactic bacteria use a micron-scale compass needle composed of a string of iron beads. (b) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans uses the left-right pair of AFD sensory neurons that project sensory structures to the tip of the worm’s head. (c) Insects including butterflies and flies may use a cryptochrome-based chemical magnetic sensor in their antennae. (d) Birds may sense magnetic fields using magnetosensory cells in the inner ear and beak with an iron-based mechanism, and in eyes with a cryptochrome-based mechanism.