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Differential investment in brain regions of polymorphic diurnal and nocturnal Myrmecia ants

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thesis
posted on 2022-03-28, 20:25 authored by Zachary Sheehan
Many nocturnal insects have evolved optical adaptations to capture more light at night but these adaptations are not sufficient to explain visually guided behaviour seen at night. Hence, there must be additional neural adaptations to explain this behaviour. At the same time, the size of brain neuropil can be significantly constrained by the size of the animal. Here, I asked if the size of functionally distinct brain regions change in two congeneric polymorphic bull ants, the diurnal M. gulosa and the nocturnal M. midas. I took advantage of the extreme intraspecific size range in both species to also ask how body size affects brain region scaling. I found that the diurnal species invests more into the optic lobes, while the night-active species invests more into the antennal lobes and mushroom bodies, in complete contrast with predictions. The higher order processing neuropils of the central complex did not differ significantly between species, except in the central body lower. I also found neuropil volume changes as body size changes, with larger individuals having larger neuropils and smaller individuals having smaller neuropils. These results show that there are adaptations in the brains of diurnal and nocturnal bull ants that may help with activity in different temporal niches and that the volume of these regions does not exist independently from size.

History

Table of Contents

Introduction -- Materials and methods -- Results -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- References.

Notes

Includes bibliographical references Empirical thesis.

Awarding Institution

Macquarie University

Degree Type

Thesis MRes

Degree

MRes, Macquarie University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Biological Sciences

Department, Centre or School

Department of Biological Sciences

Year of Award

2017

Principal Supervisor

Ajay Narendra

Rights

Copyright Zachary Sheehan 2017. Copyright disclaimer: http://mq.edu.au/library/copyright

Language

English

Extent

1 online resource (1 volume (unpaged))

Former Identifiers

mq:70575 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/1265626