No gross abnormalities are seen in the initial formation of the longitudinal connectives in mutant embryos at stages 11-14.
The hindgut is of roughly normal diameter but about one-third its normal length in a hypomorphic retn mutant. Hindgut boundary cells can still be seen in these hindguts. Null mutants lack a discernible hindgut.
Many early embryos derived from homozygous female germline clones show loss of synchrony of cell divisions at the early syncytial stage. Affected embryos have numerous anaphase bridges leading to the formation of aberrant nuclei.