Embryology of the thoracic and abdominal ganglia of the large milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus (Dallas), (Hemiptera, Lygaeidae)

In this study, the condensation of the three thoracic and 11 abdominal segmental ganglia to form a prothoracic and central nerve mass during embryogenesis is described. During katatrepsis, many changes occur in the organization of these ganglia; this study suggests that some of these changes are caused by mechanical forces acting on the ventral nerve cord at this time. The ventral nerve cord begins its anterior migration and coalescence ten hours after katatrepsis and is completed 63 hours later. The central ganglion is made up of the meso- and metathoracic ganglia and seven abdominal ganglia. Intrasegmental median cord nuclei are shown to form glial elements in the median sagittal plane of the neuropile and in the longitudinal connectives. Intersegmental median cord neuroblasts migrate into the posterior gangliomeres but, apparently, degenerate soon after katatrepsis. Lateral cord cells bordering on the neuropile form a glial investment that surrounds this fiber tract region. Peripheral lateral cord cells are shown to form the cells of the outer ganglionic sheath, the perineurium.