Homology and convergence in vertebrate and invertebrate nervous systems

Each year the meeting of the American Neuroscience Society attracts over 20,000 members, reflecting the explosion of interest in this field that has occurred over the past few decades. Researchers from many disciplines are focusing their skills on the investigation of every aspect of nervous systems, and neuroscience now encompasses the entire range of endeavour from the study of the single molecules that make up neural membranes to the non-invasive observation of neural function in animals behaving in their natural environments. Advances over the past three decades in our understanding of nervous systems are impressive and come from a multifaceted approach to the study of both vertebrate and invertebrate animals. An almost unexpected by-product of the parallel investigation of vertebrate and invertebrate nervous systems that is explored in this article is the emergent view of an intricate web of evolutionary homology and convergence exhibited in the structure and function of the nervous systems of these two large, paraphyletic groups of animals.