OBJECTIVETo probe into the morphological and histological characteristics of the telencephalon of Onychodactylus fischeri, and to enrich the comparable neurobiology.

METHODHE-staining method was used to describe the characters of the telencephalon of Onychodactylus fischeri.

RESULTSThe olfactory bulb of Onychodactylus fischeri locates in the rastral and lateral to the cerebral hemisphere, and six distinct layers can be identified from the lateral to the medial, quite similar to Batrachuperus tibetanus and Hynobius leechii. In the cerebrum, the primordial hippocampus developed better than the primordial piriform. The former belongs to archipallium and the latter is paleopallium. Ventral to the primordial hippocampus there is a septal area which cannot be divided into medial and lateral parts. In the ventrical wall, there is neither medial limiting sulcus nor lateral limiting sulcus to separate the primordial hippocampus and the septal area, or the primordial piriform and the corpus striatum. The corpus striatum of Onychodactylus fischeri is paleostriatum. There is choroids plexus anterior in the lateral ventricle. The cell group that located at two sides of the third ventricle is the amygdale. Besides, the shape and size of neurons within the telencephalon are poorly differentiated.

CONCLUSIONOnychodactylus fischeri is a relatively primitive type in the amphibian. The present data will help us to further understand the nerve system of tailed amphibian.