Mushroom bodies are the iconic learning and memory centers of insects. No previously described crustacean possesses a mushroom body as defined by strict morphological criteria although crustacean centers called hemiellipsoid bodies, which serve functions in sensory integration, have been viewed as evolutionarily convergent with mushroom bodies. Here, using key identifiers to characterize neural arrangements, we demonstrate insect-like mushroom bodies in stomatopod crustaceans (mantis shrimps). More than any other crustacean taxon, mantis shrimps display sophisticated behaviors relating to predation, spatial memory, and visual recognition comparable to those of insects. However, neuroanatomy-based cladistics suggesting close phylogenetic proximity of insects and stomatopod crustaceans conflicts with genomic evidence showing hexapods closely related to simple crustaceans called remipedes. We discuss whether corresponding anatomical phenotypes described here reflect the cerebral morphology of a common ancestor of Pancrustacea or an extraordinary example of convergent evolution.
Keywords: Neogonodactylus oerstedii; Pancrustacea; Stomatopoda; evolution; mushroom body; neural organization; neuroscience.