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Annelid worms are simultaneously an interesting and difficult model system for understanding the evolution of animal vision. On the one hand, a wide variety of photoreceptor cells and eye...

Behaviors of invertebrates can be modified by associative learning in a similar manner to those of vertebrates. Two simple forms of associative learning, Pavlovian and operant conditioning,...

Hearing in invertebrates has evolved independently as an adaptation to avoid predators or to mediate intraspecific communication. Although many invertebrate groups are able to respond to...

The microscopic free-living nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans was the first metazoan to have its genome sequenced and for many decades has served as a genetically tractable model for the...

The nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), is an organism useful for the study of learning and memory at the molecular, cellular, neural circuitry, and behavioral levels. Its...

To survive, animals must properly sense their surrounding environment. The types of sensation that allow for detecting these changes can be categorized as tactile, thermal, aural, or...

The central and peripheral nervous systems of amphioxus adults and larvae are characterized by morphofunctional features relevant to understanding the origins and evolutionary history of...

Over 700 species of cephalopods live in the Earth’s waters, occupying almost every marine zone, from the benthic deep to the open ocean to tidal waters. The greatly varied forms and...

Within the Phylum Mollusca, cephalopods encompass a small and complex group of exclusively marine animals that live in all the oceans of the world with the exception of the Black and...

Reception of chemicals via olfaction and gustation are prerequisites to find, distinguish, and recognize food and mates and to avoid dangers. Several receptor gene superfamilies are...

Important cnidarian contributions to our understanding of nervous system evolution may be found in the arrangement of conducting systems and their interactions. We see multiple, diffuse...

This article reviews the status of research on locomotion in segmented worms. It focuses on three major groups (leeches, earthworms, and nereid polychaetes) that have attracted the most...

This chapter will consider the control of posture and walking in decapod crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, rock lobsters, and crayfish). The walking system of crustaceans is composed of five...

This article discusses legged locomotion in insects. It describes the basic patterns of coordinated movement both within each leg and among the various legs. The nervous system controls...

Crayfish are decapod crustaceans that use different forms of escape to flee from different types of predatory attacks. Lateral and Medial Giant escapes are released by giant interneurons of...

Olfaction is a chemical sense present not only in mammals, insects, and other terrestrial animals, but also in crustaceans, most of which are aquatic. Crustaceans use olfaction for...

Decapod crustaceans, in particular semiterrestrial crabs, are highly visual animals that greatly rely on visual information. Their responsiveness to visual moving stimuli, with behavioral...

The complex architecture of the nervous system is the result of a stereotyped pattern of proliferation and migration of neural progenitors in the early embryo, followed by the outgrowth of...

Occasionally, fossils recovered from lower and middle Cambrian sedimentary rocks contain the remains of nervous system. These residues reveal the symmetric arrangements of brain and ganglia...

Olfactory systems are tasked with converting the chemical environment into electrical signals that the brain can use to optimize behaviors such as navigating towards resources, finding...