One cell, one hair
Look at a bee, fly, or caterpillar up close and you'll see lots of hairs. Many of them are sensing hairs. They help the insect feel touch, wind, and even taste.
A trichogen cell (say "TRY-ko-jen") sits just under the insect's hard outer skin. Tricho means hair, so its name means "hair maker".
In fruit flies, one starting cell splits to make a team of four: the hair maker, a socket maker, a nerve cell, and a cell that wraps the nerve.
Wow!
Each stiff hair, or bristle, on a fruit fly's back is built by just one trichogen cell!