Decades of research lead to standard atlas of an insect brain. All the major neuropils reported in standard atlas of locust brain were identified in 𝘏. 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯.
🚨We also identified 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 which were not reported in the literature.

The Accessory Medulla (aMe)—the primary circadian pacemaker (like the mammalian SCN)—is linked to:
• Posterior Optic Tubercle (𝗣𝗢𝗧𝘂)
• A novel structure (𝗣𝗦𝟮)

Bilateral 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 revealed conserved 𝘁𝘂𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
• Lower unit of 𝗔𝗢𝗧𝘂 → Medial & Lateral Bulbs of Lateral Accessory Lobe
• Ipsilateral & contralateral AOTu’s connect via Inter-Tubercle Tract (𝗜𝗧𝗧)

Some insects have 𝗹𝗼𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮+𝗹𝗼𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲,while others have 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲/𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 sub-neuropils.
𝘏. 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝗹𝗼𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 has:
🟡 Outer Lobula (𝗢𝗟𝗢)
🟢 Anterior Lobula (𝗔𝗟𝗢)
🔵 Dorsal Lobula (𝗗𝗟𝗢)
⚪ Inner Lobula (𝗜𝗟𝗢)

The number of 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝘀 & 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 varies across species. Insect optic lobes generally have:
✅ 𝗟𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮
✅ 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗮 (highly conserved)
🔀 𝗟𝗼𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 (highly variable!)

🔬 We identified all the 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝘀 reported in other Acrididae species. Here’s an 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗼𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 of 𝘏. 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯:
🟣 Anti-GABA (magenta) 🔵 nc82 (cyan)

We mapped the visual pathway of 𝘏. 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯. All the reported neuropils are conserved, while we found 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀—𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝘁𝗹𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻.

While its 𝗼𝗹𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 (doi.org/10.1007/s003...), here we investigate whether its 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱.

We successfully 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝙃. 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙖𝙣 (Rice grasshopper) a 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 organism 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆, which is endemic to South Asia.

Acrididae species like 𝘚. 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢&𝘓. 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢 extensively studied in neuroscience, but non-native to South Asia, and we do not know how their brain structures differ at subfamily level. So, we characterized another Acrididae, 𝘏. 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯.