Abstract
BACKGROUND: In the spider Cupiennius salei about 30 groups of neural precursors are generated per hemi-segment during early neurogenesis. Analysis of the ventral neuromeres after invagination of the primary neural precursor groups revealed that secondary neural precursors arise during late embryogenesis that partially do not differentiate until larval stages. RESULTS: In contrast to the primary groups, the secondary invaginating cells do not detach from each other after invagination but maintain their epithelial character and form so-called epithelial vesicles. As revealed by dye labeling, secondary neural precursors within epithelial vesicles do not show any morphological features of differentiation indicating that the formation of epithelial vesicles after invagination leads to a delay in the differentiation of the corresponding neural precursors. About half of the secondary neural precursor groups do not dissociate from each other during embryogenesis indicating that they provide neural precursors for larval and adult stages. CONCLUSIONS: Secondary neural precursors are arrested in an immature state by formation of epithelial vesicles. This mechanism facilitates the production of larval neural precursors during embryogenesis. I discuss the evolutionary changes that have occured during neural precursor formation in the arthropod group and present a model for the basal mode of neurogenesis.