Nervous system development in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas (Mollusca: Bivalvia)

Abstract

We described the development of the nervous system during the larval development in <i>Crassostrea gigas</i>. These data greatly advance the currently limited understanding of neurodevelopment in bivalves and mollusks, which has hampered the generation of a ground pattern reconstruction of the last common ancestor of Mollusca. Our morphological data support phylogenomic data indicating a closer Bivalvia-Gastropoda sister group relationship than the Bivalvia-Scaphopoda (Diasoma) group relationship.