Postembryonic development of adult motor patterns in crickets: a neural analysis.

Adult crickets have stereotyped patterns of motor output which are generated by the central nervous system, and which serve as a standard against which emerging nymphal patterns can be measured. The neural circuits generating these patterns are not functional at hatching. The pattern elements appear in an ordered sequence over the course of the last four molts. The circuits are completely functional before the final molt. Circuits which might be prematurely activated are suppressed in the nymph by descending inhibition from the brain.