The nervous system in insects is considered to be based on the ladder type found in the free-living flat worms, annelids, primitive mollusks and primitive crustaceans. This type is found throughout the whole protostomia division of bilateral animals, except nematodes.
Gross Structure
The insect nervous system is divided into three portions: the central, the visceral, and the peripheral sensory nervous systems. Only the first two systems will be addressed.
The central nervous system generally is composed of a cephalic part situated in the head, and a nerve cord extending in the longitudinal midventral line of the body. The cephalic part consists of a brain which lies in the head between the compound eyes, and is connected by two circumesophageal connectives that pass on either side of the mouth and around the esophagus to the subesophageal ganglion which is situated ventrally in the head below the esophagus (in some insects below the pharynx) and above the submentum. Together, they are...
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References
Bullock TL, Hordridge AG (1965) Structure and function in the nervous system of invertebrates. Freeman, San Francisco
Chapman RF (1998) The insects: structure and function, 4th edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hanson BS, Anton S (2000) Function and morphology of the antennal lobe: new developments. Annu Rev Entomol 45:203–231
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Snodgrass RE (1935) Principles of insect morphology. McGraw-Hill, New York
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Ajjan, I. (2008). Nervous System. In: Capinera, J.L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6359-6_2191
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