Embryogenesis of an insect nervous system I. A map of the thoracic and abdominal neuroblasts in Locusta migratoria

Abstract

Maps of the thoracic and abdominal neuroblasts have been prepared by reconstruction from serial sections of timed Locusta migratoria embryos. The maps are bilaterally symmetrical, periodic and consistent for embryos of the same age, with a fundamental arrangementof 7 rows of 4–10 cells plus 1 median neuroblast per segment. A map of 60+1 cells isrepeated in each of the three thoracic segments, with an additional median cell developinglate at the anterior end of the prothorax. The arrangement in the abdomen is similar, with 56+ 1 cells per segment. Neuroblasts differentiate and subsequently degenerate in an anteroposteriorsequence, but construction of the thoracic ganglia involves a delayed degenerationof part of the original set in these segments. The maps show that the neuroblasts are as reliable in their number and arrangement as the adult cells they produce. The number of neuroblasts used in constructing the relatively complex thoracic ganglia is similar to that which produces the simpler abdominal ganglia. Some motorneurons have the same parent neuroblast. The maps are intended as a first step in an analysis of the relation between the progeny of different neuroblasts and the family of neurons which each neuroblast produces.