Morphometric Changes of the Central Nervous System of Oligomelic Tegenaria atrica Spiders

Abstract

Oligomely is an anomaly manifested in the morphology of spiders (except for deformations of the prosoma and exoskeleton), by the absence of one or more appendages, and in their anatomy by the absence of neuromeres. This study was aimed at determining whether there is a correlation between the absence of a neuromere or its half in the subesophageal ganglia and the volume of the prosoma. Morphometric studies involved oligomelic specimens of Tegenaria atrica with the absence of one walking leg and two walking legs. Volumetric analysis concerned with nymph stage II of spiders obtained after exposing the embryos to alternating temperatures of 14 and 320C. The results were compared with those obtained from the histological analysis of the prosoma and central nervous system of control individuals. It was found that there was no relationship between the absence of half or an entire neuromere and the volume of the prosoma of oligomelic specimens. The volume of the central nervous system decreased but the volume change was not proportional to the changes in the prosoma volume. During studies, it was found that the lack of neuromeres resulted in an increase in the volume of remaining neuromeres.