Sexual dimorphism of motorneurons: timbal muscle innervation in male periodical cicadas and homologous structures in females

Abstract

In 17-year cicadas, only the male has a sound-producing apparatus. It consists of paired abdominal timbals, each driven by a specialized timbal muscle. Each muscle is innervated by a large timbal motorneuron. Having the largest axon in the auditory nerve, its central structure is readily elucidated with cobalt. The largest cell in the female auditory nerve is found to be a motorneuron that bears striking resemblance to the timbal motorneuron of the male. On the basis of their anatomy within the CNS, we consider these cells to be homologous, despite the fact that the female has no apparent timbal muscle. Cobalt-filling to the periphery reveals the target muscle of the female motorneuron to be one of the three tensor tympani muscles supporting the tympanum; these muscles are not found in the male. The evolutionary significance of these findings is discussed in terms of a possible loss of the sound-producing apparatus in females.