On pygmy squids, giant brains, and molluscan heads

Tim Wollesen
Dept. of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Austria

Amongst protostome metazoans, cephalopods are considered paramount with respect to their cognitive abilities and complex behavior patterns. Although the anatomy of their adult central nervous system (CNS) has been scrutinized, less is known about its establishment during ontogeny. Neurotransmitters are involved in crucial cognitive and developmental processes and their expression domains in the CNS are in many cases assumed to be evolutionarily conserved among species. In this talk, I will present selected data of my PhD project which among others suggest homology of distinct neuronal subsets among coleoid cephalopods, i.e. all cephalopods but nautiluses. Furthermore, I will outline my current postdoctoral project on cephalization in conchiferan molluscs, i.e. cephalopods, gastropods, scaphopods, monoplacophorans, and bivalves.