Embryonic development of mushroom bodies in Pterostichus niger schall. (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

Abstract

This study demonstrates that the number of stem cells in mushroom bodies of the ground beetle Pterostichus niger increases already in the first half of embryogenesis and that this timing allows for an intensive increase of the number of neurons that compose the mushroom bodies during the second half of embryonic development. The degree of development of the mushroom bodies in new-born P. niger larvae was shown to be higher than that in new-born larvae of any other holometabolous insect investigated previously.