Postembryonic changes in the optic primordia and optic bud in the flesh fly Sarcophaga ruficornis fabr. (Diptera: Sarcophagidae).

Differentiation of the optic lobe anlagen begin in the brain of second instar. Each is an elongated disc of cortical cells placed on the dorsolateral border of each protocerebrum. In the late second instar the disc elongates and its two ends bend inwards which gradually separate from the central region, thus giving three imaginal discs. The protocerebral neuropile extends into these discs and medulla interna and externa are formed. The rudiments of compound eyes (cephalic complex) appear in the early laid larva. These are attached with the brain and pharyngeal wall separately. The posterior portion of cephalic complex (optic bud), after establishing a nervous association with the central optic lobe anlage (lamina ganglionaris), forms the compound eye. Ech optic bud is attached to the brain by a non-nervous stalk. The epiblast cells of the optic bud do not migrate into the brain and the lamina is formed by the proliferation of the central imaginal disc. The reorientation of the optic lobe anlagen starts in the late third instar and the medulla interna divides into two unequal lobes. In 2 day pupa the nerve fibres from the lamina travel into the optic stalk and the optic nerve is formed. The epiblast cells of the optic bud differentiate to form a peripheral epithelial layer which becomes pigmented and gets apposed to the lateral boundary of the brain. The central epiblast cells of the optic bud form several ommatidia. The optic nerve degenerates gradually and various components of the compound eye are formed by the epiblast cells. Chiasm internum is present but chiasm externum is absent.