An odor plume is composed of fine filamentous structures interspersed by clean air. Various animals use bilateral comparison with paired olfactory organs for detecting spatial and temporal features of the plume. American cockroaches are capable of locating a sex pheromone source with one long antenna spanning 5 cm, so-called unilateral odor sampling. This capability stems from an antennotopic map in which olfactory sensory neurons located proximo-distally in the antenna send axon terminals proximo-distally in a given glomerulus, relative to axonal entry points. Multiple output neurons (projection neurons) utilize this spatial map in the pheromone-receptive glomerulus. Here, I summarize neuronal underpinnings of receptive field formation, development, and how this intraglomerular spatial map can be utilized for odor localization.
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