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Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on July 24, 2008
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bjn044
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Aglomerular Hemipteran Antennal Lobes—Basic Neuroanatomy of a Small Nose

Lina Kristoffersen1, Bill S. Hansson2,3, Olle Anderbrant1 and Mattias C. Larsson2

1 Department of Ecology, Chemical Ecology and Ecotoxicology, Lund University, Ecology Building, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden 2 Department of Crop Protection Biology, Chemical Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden 3 Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans Knoell Strasse 8, D-07745 Jena, Germany

Correspondence to be sent to: Mattias C. Larsson, Department of Crop Protection Biology, Chemical Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 44, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden. e-mail: mattias.larsson{at}ltj.slu.se


  Abstract

We have compared the basic organization of the primary olfactory centre, the antennal lobe (AL), in 4 hemipteran species representing the 2 major lineages in this order. The Homoptera were represented by the psyllid Trioza apicalis and its aphid relatives the grain aphid Sitobion avenae Fabricius and the rose-grain aphid Metopolophium dirhodum Walker, whereas the Heteroptera were represented by the pentatomid stink bug Euschistus heros Fabricius. The olfactory systems of psyllids and aphids are generally very small, with low numbers of afferents in comparison to other insect groups, and the smallest described so far belongs to T. apicalis, comprising less than 50 olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). Originally, we tried to estimate numbers of olfactory glomeruli in the AL of T. apicalis, which in insects generally correspond closely to the number of different types of ORNs. Neither immunocytochemical staining nor anterograde staining of ORNs revealed any glomerular structures in the ALs of T. apicalis or the 2 aphids that were included for comparison. In contrast, the ALs of the pentatomid stink bug E. heros displayed numerous distinct and well-delineated glomeruli, showing that aglomerular ALs are not typical of all insects within the order Hemiptera. Glomeruli are hallmark features of olfactory lobes in many different phyla, and the absence of glomerular structures in psyllids and aphids appears to be unique in insects that depend on olfactory orientation.

Key words: antennal lobe, aphid, glomeruli, Heteroptera, Homoptera, Trioza apicalis

Accepted 19 June 2008


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