In vertebrates, landmarks of embryonic neural development include the birth and differentiation of neurons from stem cell precursors, the migration of immature neurons from their birthplaces in the embryo to their final positions, outgrowth of axons from neurons and guidance of the motile growth cone through the embryo towards postsynaptic partners, the generation of synapses between these axons and their postsynaptic partners, and finally the lifelong changes in synapses which are thought to underlie learning and memory.

Their main functions are to provide support and to insulate the axons ( the long projection of nerve cells ) in the central nervous system ( the brain and spinal cord ) of some vertebrates.

Much like in vertebrates, axons from the sensory neurons converge into glomeruli in the antennal lobe.

In some vertebrates, for example the chicken, the ganglion cell axons are myelinated inside the retina.

In the forming corpus callosum of vertebrates, primitive glia cells first migrate to the ependymal zones of hemispheres and the dorsal septum wall to form a transient structure that the pioneer axons of the callosal fibers use to extend.

In many classes of vertebrates, such as fish and amphibians, the three parts remain similar in size in the adult, but in mammals the forebrain becomes much larger than the other parts, and the midbrain becomes very small.

It is a major brain component in many vertebrates, but is greatly reduced in primates.

The superior colliculus, which plays a major role in visual control of behavior in most vertebrates, shrinks to a small size in mammals, and many of its functions are taken over by visual areas of the cerebral cortex.

Characteristics commonly associated with carnivores include organs for capturing and disarticulating prey ( teeth and claws serve these functions in many vertebrates ) and status as a predator.

The foot ( plural feet ) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates.

Fruit flies are often preferred over other animals due to their short life cycle, low maintenance requirements, and relatively simple genome compared to many vertebrates.

In contrast, the mitochondrial genomes of vertebrates are entirely devoid of introns, while those of eukaryotic microorganisms may contain many introns.

The diet of tettigoniids includes leaves, flowers, bark, and seeds, but many species are exclusively predatory, feeding on other insects, snails or even small vertebrates such as snakes and lizards.

In vertebrates, the majority of neurons belong to the central nervous system, but some reside in peripheral ganglia, and many sensory neurons are situated in sensory organs such as the retina and cochlea.

In many species — including all vertebrates — the nervous system is the most complex organ system in the body, with most of the complexity residing in the brain.

Mammals and birds continued to be the dominant terrestrial vertebrates, and took many forms as they adapted to various habitats.

Fossils suggest they may have possessed many modern attributes even by the late Carboniferous, and it is possible that they captured small vertebrates, for some species had a wing span of 71 cm.

Endoskeletons is the internal support structure of an animal, composed of mineralized tissue and are typical of many vertebrates.

Trypsin () is a serine protease found in the digestive system of many vertebrates, where it hydrolyses proteins.

Human cranial nerves are nerves similar to those found in many other vertebrates.

Between 48 to 54 % of all 328 of their species considered threatened, turtles and tortoises are at a much higher risk of extinction than many other vertebrates.

Evidence for the existence of sharks dates from the Ordovician period, over 450 – 420 million years ago, before land vertebrates existed and before many plants had colonized the continents.

Lobsters, like snails and spiders, have blue blood due to the presence of haemocyanin which contains copper ( in contrast, vertebrates and many other animals have red blood from iron-rich haemoglobin ).

The cephalopods have a non-inverted retina which is comparable in resolving power to the eyes of many vertebrates, however, the photoreceptors are not maintained, and this forces all invertebrates to either have a short life ( of a few years ) in a photopic environment or spend most of their lives in darkness.

The neck is the part of the body, on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates, that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk.

In many mammals, the middle ear also becomes protected by a bony sheath, the auditory bulla, not found in other vertebrates.

The homeobox domain was first identified in a number of drosophila homeotic and segmentation proteins, but is now known to be well-conserved in many other animals, including vertebrates.

Unlike many other vertebrates, this duct is separate from the reproductive tract.

Teeth ( singular tooth ) are small whitish structures found in the jaws ( or mouths ) of many vertebrates that are used to tear, scrape, milk and chew food.

Central neurons, which in vertebrates greatly outnumber the other types, make all of their input and output connections with other neurons.

In vertebrates the enteric nervous system includes efferent neurons, afferent neurons, and interneurons, all of which make the enteric nervous system capable of carrying reflexes and acting as an integrating center in the absence of CNS input.

The proximate cause for contagious yawning may lie with mirror neurons in the frontal cortex of certain vertebrates, which, upon being exposed to a stimulus from conspecific ( same species ) and occasionally interspecific organisms, activates the same regions in the brain.

These channels, present in neurons and myocytes, are not invertebrate-specific, but are protected in vertebrates from the action of ivermectin by the blood – brain barrier.

In vertebrates, Shh signaling in the ventral portion of the neural tube is most notably responsible for the induction of floor plate cells and motor neurons.

Electrical synapses were first demonstrated between escape-related giant neurons in crayfish in the late 1950s, and were later found in vertebrates.

In molluscs such as Aplysia californica the peripheral motor neurons are more extensive, opposed to vertebrates, and innervate somatic ( locomotor and appendageal ) muscles.

In vertebrates, ORNs are bipolar neurons with dendrites facing the interior space of the nasal cavity and an axon that passes through the cribiform plate then travels along the olfactory nerve to the olfactory bulb.

In vertebrates, the olfactory epithelium consists of a three basic cell types: bipolar olfactory receptor neurons ; sustentacular cells, a type of supporting cell ; and basal cells, the stem cells that continuously give rise to new olfactory receptor neurons and sustentacular cells.

In vertebrates, the olfactory receptors are located in the cilia of the olfactory sensory neurons.

In vertebrates, octopamine replaces norepinephrine in sympathetic neurons with chronic use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

Neural crest cells are a transient, multipotent, migratory cell population unique to vertebrates that gives rise to a diverse cell lineage including melanocytes, craniofacial cartilage and bone, smooth muscle, peripheral and enteric neurons and glia.

In the spinal cord of vertebrates, commissural neurons from the dorsal regions project downward toward the ventral floor plate.