Morphological study of flight motor neurons in the cricket

The motor innervation of the major flight muscles powering the fore- and hindwings of the cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus was investigated. The morphology of the motor neurons was determined by filling them via their axons in the periphery with either Lucifer Yellow or cobalt chloride followed by silver intensification. Details of the location of branches of motor neurons within the ganglion were obtained by serially sectioning ganglia containing filled neurons. For each flight muscle at least two motor neurons were found. The somata of motor neurons were located in two clusters in the ganglion, the anterior lateral cluster and the posterior lateral cluster. Motor neurons in the same cluster had similar morphologies. Most of the arborizations of these motor neurons were in the dorsal neuropil with a few branches in the lateral intermediate neuropil. The morphology of flight motor neurons was compared with the morphology of leg motor neurons in consideration of the possible functional organization of the ganglion. A comparison was made between motor neurons innervating homologous muscles of the cricket and the locust to determine the extent of the difference between the flight systems of these two groups.