A systematic nomenclature for the insect brain

Kei Ito, Kazunori Shinomiya, Masayoshi Ito, J. Douglas Armstrong, George Boyan, Volker Hartenstein, Steffen Harzsch, Martin Heisenberg, Uwe Homberg, Arnim Jenett, Haig Keshishian, Linda L. Restifo, Wolfgang Rössler, Julie H. Simpson, Nicholas J. Strausfeld, Roland Strauss, Leslie B. Vosshall

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

409 Scopus citations

Abstract

Despite the importance of the insect nervous system for functional and developmental neuroscience, descriptions of insect brains have suffered from a lack of uniform nomenclature. Ambiguous definitions of brain regions and fiber bundles have contributed to the variation of names used to describe the same structure. The lack of clearly determined neuropil boundaries has made it difficult to document precise locations of neuronal projections for connectomics study. To address such issues, a consortium ofneurobiologists studying arthropod brains, the Insect Brain Name Working Group, has established the present hierarchical nomenclature system, using the brain of Drosophila melanogaster as the reference framework, while taking the brains of other taxa into careful consideration for maximum consistency and expandability. The following summarizes the consortium's nomenclature system and highlights examples of existing ambiguities and remedies for them. This nomenclature is intended to serve as astandard of reference for the study of the brain of Drosophila and other insects.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)755-765
Number of pages11
JournalNeuron
Volume81
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 19 2014

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience(all)

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