Summary
The compound eye of the housefly, from lens to first optic neuropile (lamina ganglionaris) was examined with a scanning electron microscope. Key findings are as follows: The pseudocone cavity is enclosed by six corneal pigment cells. The nuclei of the six cells are firmly anchored to the underside of the lens and portions remain after lens delamination from the pseudocone cavity. An eccentrically-positioned, short photoreceptor cell was observed near the region where the inferior central cell initiates its rhabdom. This eminence may represent that cell's soma. The basement membrane is revealed as a two-tiered, fibrous layer with ovoid fenestrations. Each opening is sealed with a diaphragm perforated by eight retinular axons and a trachea. Conjoined distal surfaces of the satellite glial cells form a membrane-like barrier immediately underlying the basement membrane. Monopolar somata from the lamina are covered with glial cells which possibly make more intimate contact with the somata through miniscule projections. Optic cartridges with monopolar interneurons were noted. Spherical to slightly biconcave processes of these interneurons contact retinular axons. Very fine (1000 Å) filaments interweave among and contact lateral processes. Further implications are discussed as they relate to observed structures.
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We gratefully acknowledge research support from the Graduate School, University of Wisconsin, Project No. 140508. Mr. Jack Rozental kindly supplied an English translation of the Cajal and Sanchez (1915) treatise on the fly nervous system. Dr. N. J. Strausfeld, Max Planck Institut für biologische Kybernetik, Tübingen, graciously provided comments about the figures.
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Carlson, S.D., Chi, C. Surface fine structure of the eye of the housefly (Musca domestica): Ommatidia and lamina ganglionaris. Cell Tissue Res. 149, 21–41 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00209048
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00209048