A simple mushroom body in an African scarabid beetle
Abstract
This account describes novel mushroom body organization in a coleopteran insect, the African fruit chafer Pachnoda marginata. Each of its prominent mushroom bodies possesses a pair of simple calyces comprising two populations of Kenyon cells, the dendrites of which are organized into a central and an annular zone. Kenyon cells of the central zone extend their dendrites downward and toward the perimeter of the calyx. Their axon-like processes in the pedunculus are densely packed to make up a distinctive shaft of neuropil. Toward the front of the brain, the shafts, one from each calyx, bifurcate to provide a pair of subdivisions in the medial and vertical lobes. Dendrites of Kenyon cells supplying the annular zone extend from the calyx perimeter toward its center. Axons from the annular zones of both calyces together provide a sleeve of axons that ensheaths the two shafts. Sleeve axons bifurcate to provide a second pair of divisions in each of the lobes. These arrangements provide each lobe with a discrete representation of the two Kenyon cell populations of the two calyces. Kenyon cells supplying the central zone have dendritic morphologies reminiscent of class II clawed Kenyon cells that supply the gamma lobes in other taxa. Ke...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Basal Ganglia
Basal Ganglia are a group of subcortical nuclei in the brain associated with control of voluntary motor movements, procedural and habit learning, emotion, and cognition. Here is the latest research.