A comparative study of neck muscle motor neurons in a cricket and a locust
- 20 December 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Comparative Neurology
- Vol. 230 (4), 517-535
- https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.902300404
Abstract
The gross morphology of the neck muscles of a cricket (Gryllus campestris) and their innervation are described and compared with a locust (Schistocerca gregaria) (Figs. 1,2). The motor neurons innervating the neck muscles were stained in crickets and locusts with cobalt chloride introduced via the nerve endings in the muscle. The two species show overall similarities, not only in position of the neck motor neurons in suboesophageal, prothoracic, and mesothoracic ganglia (Table 1) but also in motor neuron morphology (Figs. 4–12). However, muscle 60 in the cricket is innervated by a unique motor neuron with its axon in prothoracic nerve 3, instead of sharing motor neurons in suboesophageal nerve 8 and mesothoracic nerve 1 with muscle 59, as in locust. Muscle 62 has the same attachments and innervation with similar motor neurons in cricket and locust but a different mechanical function in the two species. The findings are discussed with respect to possible segmental homologies and to the origins of the muscles as either dorso‐ventral or longitudinal. As several muscles share the same motor neurons, we suggest that neck muscle function be described in terms of “behavioural units of action”.Keywords
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- Serial homologies of the motor neurons of the dorsal intersegmental muscles of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana (L.)Journal of Morphology, 1983
- The peripheral and central nervous organization of the locust coxo–trochanteral jointJournal of Neurobiology, 1982
- Sensory mechanisms of eye cleaning behavior in the cricket Gryllus campestrisJournal of Comparative Physiology A, 1979
- Suboesophageal neurons involved in head movements and feeding in locustsProceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 1979
- The fast phase of optokinetic nystagmus in the locustPhysiological Entomology, 1978
- The tritocerebral commissure giant (TCG): A bimodal interneurone in the locust,Schistocerca gregariaJournal of Comparative Physiology A, 1978
- A silver intensification method for cobalt-filled neurones in wholemount preparationsBrain Research, 1977
- Comparison of sensory input with motor output in the locust optomotor systemJournal of Comparative Physiology A, 1977
- Motor and sensory flight neurones in a locust demonstrated using cobalt chlorideJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1974
- Musculature and innervation of the neck of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål)Journal of Morphology, 1973