A Systematic Nomenclature for the Insect Brain

Abstract

Despite the importance of the insect nervous system for functional and developmental neuroscience, descriptions of insect brains have suffered from a lack of uniform nomenclature. Ambiguous definitions of brain regions and fiber bundles have contributed to the variation of names used to describe the same structure. The lack of clearly determined neuropil boundaries has made it difficult to document precise locations of neuronal projections for connectomics study. To address such issues, a consortium of neurobiologists studying arthropod brains, the Insect Brain Name Working Group, has established the present hierarchical nomenclature system, using the brain of Drosophila melanogaster as the reference framework, while taking the brains of other taxa into careful consideration for maximum consistency and expandability. The following summarizes the consortium's nomenclature system and highlights examples of existing ambiguities and remedies for them. This nomenclature is intended to serve as a standard of reference for the study of the brain of Drosophila and other insects.

Morphological characterization of the antennal lobes in the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

“…These include (see supplementary Figure): (1) a group of cell bodies (between 2 and 4) that were labeled in the subesophageal ganglion (SEG), connected by prominent axons. This label was strong in some samples, and weak in others, possibly depending on how well the tracer was transported; (2) a mesh of neuropil in the SEG, indicating the presence of gustatory sensory neurons; (3) staining of fibers in the antennal mechanosensory and motor center (AMMC) of the dorsal lobe, adjacent to the AL (Ito et al 2014). Interestingly, no cell bodies of motor neurons were labeled in this area, suggesting that our distal cut of the antennal nerve did not include motor neuron fibers; (4) a single neurite bypassing the AL and projecting into the protocerebrum along the brain midline.…”

The Adipokinetic Hormone Receptor Modulates Sexual Behavior, Pheromone Perception and Pheromone Production in a Sex-Specific and Starvation-Dependent Manner in Drosophila melanogaster

“…Males lacking AKHR showed a severe decrease in their courtship activity when starved, as well as an increase in mating duration when fed. AKHR expression is particularly strong in the subesophageal zone (SEZ, Ito et al, 2014). We found axonal projections from AKHR-expressing neurons to higher brain centers including specific glomeruli in the antennal lobe.…”

Simultaneous Long-term Recordings at Two Neuronal Processing Stages in Behaving Honeybees

“…However, the temporal resolution of the imaging process itself is rather limited. Optical acquisition systems usually use CCD-imaging with a temporal resolution of [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] , although 2-PhotonImaging might be able to acquire faster sequences 68 . However, increasing sampling rate always goes along with a loss in spatial resolution.…”

“…The AL was shown to be subdivided into a ventral and a dorsal hemi lobe giving rise to the medial and the lateral antennal lobe tract (m-and l-ALT; formerly termed m-and l-APT for medial-and lateral antennal lobe protocerebral tract [15][16][17] ). Here a new tract terminology introduced by a recent effort for a unified nomenclature of the insect brain will be used 18 . Both ALTs (l-and m-ALT) combine either 410 (l-ALT) or 510 (m-ALT) uniglomerular projection neurons (PN), respectively 15,16,19 .…”