Re. Sandeman et Dc. Sandeman, PREEMBRYONIC AND POSTEMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH AND TURNOVER OF OLFACTORY RECEPTOR NEURONS IN CRAYFISH ANTENNULES, Journal of Experimental Biology, 199(11), 1996, pp. 2409-2418
The antennules of the crayfish Cherax destructor can first be observed
as antero-laterally located lobes in embryos that have reached the 50
% stage of development. Clusters of cells that are probably the olfac
tory receptor neurones (ORNs) appear at the distal end of these lobes,
which later differentiate into the lateral flagella of the antennules
. New clusters of ORNs and segments are added at the proximal end of t
he lateral flagellum throughout the postembryonic stages and well into
the juvenile adult stage. From a comparison of the exuvia and the new
ly emerged flagella in animals over a wide range of sizes, we conclude
that, once the animals reach a certain size (approximately 7 mm carap
ace length), the most distal, and oldest, segments of the antennule ar
e shed. Growth occurs from the proximal end of the flagellum, and the
addition of new ORNs is the result of a delayed differentiation of the
flagellar segments that takes place at the proximal end of the chemor
eceptor array, about halfway along the flagellum.