Studies on Nervous System Anatomy of the Douglas Fir Beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopk. (Scolytidae)

Abstract

This paper describes the main anatomical features of the adult nervous system of the Douglas fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopk. The study on which it is based was carried out to provide a background for further work on the nervous system and as part of a program of investigation of the physiology and behaviour of scolytid beetles.Extensive comparative studies of coleopterous nervous system were made long ago by Blanchard (1846) and Brand (1879). Their descriptions of scolytid material are sketchy and brief, however, and because we can find no other treatment of the nervous system in the Scolytidae we are presenting this brief report on our work.