The smallest insect has neurons without nuclei

2012/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia

Lomonosov, researcher at Moscow State University, explained in the journal Arthropod Structure & Development how wasps of the genus Megaphragma have molded the cells of the nervous system to equate their bodies to the measures of unicellular organisms (in the image appears next to a paramecium and a sister). During the study, it is observed that in adult specimens most neurons of the central nervous system lack nucleus (both in the ganglia and in the brain). In fact, only 339-372 nuclear neurons have been found in adult wasps. In the larvae, on the contrary, there is a nucleus of 7,400 neurons that lose their nucleus in the last phase of larval development. The researcher stressed that, despite having no core, these insects are able to fly and look for hoteliers.