Visual acuity in insects.

@article{Land1997VisualAI,
  title={Visual acuity in insects.},
  author={Michael F. Land},
  journal={Annual review of entomology},
  year={1997},
  volume={42},
  pages={
          147-77
        }
}
  • M. Land
  • Published 1997
  • Biology
  • Annual review of entomology
The acuity of compound eyes is determined by interommatidial angles, optical quality, and rhabdom dimensions. It is also affected by light levels and speed of movement. In insects, interommatidial angles vary from tens of degrees in Apterygota, to as little as 0.24 degrees in dragonflies. Resolution better than this is not attainable in compound eyes of realistic size. The smaller the interommatidial angle the greater the distance at which objects--prey, predators, or foliage--can be resolved… 
View on PubMed
flybrain.neurobio.arizona.edu
596 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
80
Background Citations
307
Methods Citations
35
Results Citations
4

Figures and Tables from this paper

596 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

THE RESOLUTION OF INSECT COMPOUND EYES
ABSTRACT The spatial resolution of compound eyes is determined by their interommatidial angles, by the optical quality and rhabdom dimensions of the ommatidia, and by illumination level. Among…
Surprising characteristics of visual systems of invertebrates
Surf and turf vision: Patterns and predictors of visual acuity in compound eye evolution.
Behavioral evidence for within-eyelet resolution in twisted-winged insects (Strepsiptera)
TLDR
This study is the first to use the EMD model explicitly to investigate the possibility that strepsipteran eyes combine motion detection features from both camera and compound eyes.
A sexual dimorphism in the spatial vision of band-winged grasshoppers
TLDR
This study is one of the first to demonstrate a female-biased sexual dimorphism in acuity of sexually dimorphic band-winged grasshoppers, and suggests that differences in VA between the sexes may be more common than currently appreciated.
Eye morphology and visual acuity in the pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) studied with a new method of measuring interommatidial angles
TLDR
It is contended that RCE fills a gap in the repertoire of techniques available to study peripheral determinants of spatial resolution in compound eyes, because it can be applied on species with dark eyes, and opens up for sampling a larger number of specimens.
Visual acuity and sensitivity increase allometrically with body size in butterflies.
Compound eyes and retinal information processing in miniature dipteran species match their specific ecological demands
TLDR
It is found that although these species have similar lenses and optical properties, Coenosia photoreceptors have three- to fourfold higher spatial resolution and rate of information transfer than Drosophila, demonstrating how the flexible architecture of miniature compound eyes can evolve to match information processing with ecological demands.
Visual field structure in the Empress Leilia, Asterocampa leilia (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae): dimensions and regional variation in acuity
TLDR
It is concluded that vision in these butterflies is mostly monocular and that males have more acute vision than females, especially in the frontal region, and that perched males direct their most acute vision where females are likely to appear but show no eye modifications that appear clearly related to a mate-locating tactic.
Miniaturisation reduces contrast sensitivity and spatial resolving power in ants
TLDR
This is the first study to physiologically investigate contrast sensitivity in the context of insect allometry and reveals that miniaturisation in ants reduces both contrast sensitivity and spatial resolving power.
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 98 REFERENCES
The separation of visual axes in apposition compound eyes.
  • G. Horridge
  • Biology
    Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
  • 1978
TLDR
This paper consists of maps of the values of D Δ ϕ for eyes of a variety of arthropods from different habitats made by a new convention in which the minimum theoretical field of each ommatidium is placed in angular coordinates as a circle of diameter θ/ D with centre on the axis at the place where it lies on the eye.
The Size of Ommatidia in Apposition Eyes
TLDR
The eyes of twenty-seven other species of Hymenoptera were measured, and the results show that in eyes of different sizes the number of ommatidia is adjusted so that inter-ommatidial angle is just below the limiting resolving power of the o mmatidia; this is the condition for optimum acuity in a compound apposition eye.
I. Insect sight and the defining power of composite eyes
  • A. Mallock
  • Education
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
  • 1894
The optical arrangement of the simple eyes of Vertebrates is well understood, but as regards the action of the composite eyes of Insects and Crustacea less certainty has hitherto prevailed. In the…
Development of the compound eyes of dragonflies (Odonata). III. Adult compound eyes.
  • T. Sherk
  • Biology
    The Journal of experimental zoology
  • 1978
The distribution of ommatidial diameters and interommatidial angles, as determined by measuring the angles between the optic axes of adjacent ommatidia, are mapped across the surface of the compound…
Direct observation of receptors and images in simple and compound eyes
The Absolute Sensitivity of Lens and Compound Eyes
  • K. Kirschfeld
  • Physics
    Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung. Section C, Biosciences
  • 1974
TLDR
The optical superposition eye of nocturnal insects like E ph estia is an exceptional case, where there is an improvement in the numbers of quanta reaching the receptors by a factor 100 to 1000 com pared to the eyes of bee or man.
Optical scaling in conspecific Cataglyphis ants
TLDR
Among conspecific ant workers, the relationship between spatial visual acuity and eye size is similar to that found in interspecific comparisons and reflects optical constraints imposed on the design of the compound eye.
Afocal apposition optics in butterfly eyes
In most apposition compound eyes there are two components to the optical system of the ommatidium1,2, the cornea and the crystalline cone. The focusing power of the cornea is well documented3,4…
Development of the compound eyes of dragonflies (Odonata). II. Development of the larval compound eyes.
  • T. Sherk
  • Biology
    The Journal of experimental zoology
  • 1978
TLDR
Ommatidia are described in terms of factors which are balanced for best vision, from initial differentiation anteriorly, through passage through the fovea, to their final relatively posterior location.
Binocular stereopsis in an insect
TLDR
The results demonstrate that mantids do indeed rely on binocular triangulation when estimating the distance of prey, and thus provide the first unequivocal evidence for stereoscopic vision in an invertebrate.
...
...