Olfactory and vomeronasal projections and the pathway of the nervus terminalis in ten species of salamanders

Summary Primary olfactory and vomeronasal projections as well as the pathway of the nervus terminalis were studied in 10 representative species of salamandrid and plethodontid salamanders by means of injections of horseradish peroxidase and examination of whole-mount preparations. Olfactory projections are very similar in the different urodeles, but vomeronasal projections differ in shape and number of termination fields. Whereas the direct-developing Plethodontini and Bolitoglossini reveal only one or two fields, the salamandrid species and the members of the plethodontid tribes Desmognathinae and Hemidactyliini, all possessing an aquatic larval stage, exhibit several vomeronasal projection fields. In all species examined centrifugal axons of the nervus terminalis leave the olfactory projection area ventrocaudally and terminate in the preoptic region and the hypothalamus.Abbreviations COM. ANT commissura anterior - DGL displaced glomeruli - HY hypophysis - HYTH hypothalamus - LF lateral fibers of the nervus terminalis - ME medulla oblongata - MF medial fibers of the nervus terminalis - Nt nervus terminalis - Npo nucleus praeopticus