Morphology of the Abdominal Nervous System of the Adult Tobacco Hornworm, Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

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Abstract
This paper describes the abdominal nervous system of the adult tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta (L.). In both males and females the ganglia of abdominal segments 1 and 2 are fused with the pterothoracic ganglion and their lateral branches extend from the fused ventral interganglionic connective near the boundary of the thorax and abdomen to innervate their respective muscles. Ganglia 3–5 are typical abdominal ganglia and although the sixth abdominal ganglion is fused with the terminal ganglion, the innervations of segments 3–6 are essentially identical. In both sexes segments 7–10 are specialized for reproduction and this fact is reflected in their innervation. The innervation of hornworm abdomen is compared with that of representatives of Dictyoptera, Orthoptera, Neuroptera, and Lepidoptera.