Central projections of first-order ocellar interneurons in two orthopteroid insects Acheta domesticus and Periplaneta americana. A comparative study.

The central projections of ocellar first-order interneurons in the cricket, Acheta domesticus, and the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, were examined in silver-intensified cobalt preparations. Ten morphologically different types of ocellar interneurons among a total of 44 are recognized in the cricket, and five different types among a total of 26 in the cockroach, indicating that these species have simpler ocellar systems than those described previously in locusts. Ocellar interneurons arborize in the following regions of neuropil in both the cricket and cockroach: the ocellar foci of the posterior protocerebrum, the posterior deutocerebrum, the protocerebral bridge, the ocellar synaptic plexus, ocellar nerves and tracts, and the lobula and medulla of the optic lobes. Ocellar first-order interneurons thus project predominantly to sites where they are likely to synapse with other ocellar and optic-lobe interneurons.