A MORPHOMETRIC CLASSIFICATION OF PUPAL HONEYBEE ANTENNAL LOBE NEURONSIN CULTURE

BOTH intrinsic (programmed) and extrinsic (non-programmed) factors are thought to play a role in the morphogenesis of neurones in the honeyb ee antennal lobe (the first relay station in the olfactory pathway) du ring development. We present here a morphometric and statistical analy sis of a large population of pupal honeybee antennal lobe neurones gro wn in primary culture. Quantitative parameters were used to characteri ze neuronal shapes. On the basis of such morphometric measurements, an automatic classification allowed three morphological types to be dist inguished. Their main characteristics are presented and the role of in trinsic and extrinsic factors in their determination is discussed.