Peculiarities of the brain organization and fine structure in small insects related to miniaturization. 4. Thrips (Thysanoptera, Thripidae)

Resumo

This article describes the morphology and ultrastructure of the brain of the greenhouse thrips, Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis (Thripidae), studied in a series of histological sections with the use of 3D reconstructions and TEM. The structural peculiarities of the brain organization and its features associated with body miniaturization as well as its quantitative characteristics (the number of cells and the volume of individual centers) are described for the first time in both the adult and the first-instar nymph of H. haemorrhoidalis. It is suggested that the limits of the nervous system miniaturization may be different in holo- and hemimetabolous insects.