The anterior insula cortex (AIC) and claustrum (CLA ) are two closely related brain regions. AIC is thought to integrate visceral information, suggesting it plays a role in interoceptive inference, thereby providing a possible neural mechanism for consciousness. Studies on CLA indicate that it is a cortical hub for orchestrating inter-areal communication. Because of the strong interaction between CLA and AIC, combined they could play a role in consciousness. Here we have undertaken to compare our findings in macaque with those in rodent. Retrograde tracers were injected in macaque brain AIC and CLA. The strength of connection in each cortical area and subcortical structure was quantified. The ontology of cortical areas is based on previous teamwork (115 area atlas) and subcortical structures are modified from the Paxinos’s/Saleem’s atlas. Cross-species comparison was performed on corresponding big subcortical nuclei in macaque and mouse. Mouse data from Allen Institute. In most of the big subcortical nuclei of mouse, the projection to the AIC and CLA are denser than those in macaque. In macaque, CLA receives projections from more cortical areas than does AIC. CLA and AIC are heavily inter-connected in both directions. AIC in mouse shows a higher proportion of connections from subcortical structures compared to macaque. CLA in macaque shows a higher proportion of connections from cortex compared to mouse. However, compared to mouse, in macaque there are significantly more subcortical source structures projecting to the CLA.