117
Views
3
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

THE RESOLUTION OF INSECT COMPOUND EYES

Pages 79-91 | Received 26 Aug 1996, Published online: 19 Apr 2013
 

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 insects, interommatidial angles vary from tens of degrees in Apterygota, to as little as 0.24° in dragonflies. Resolution better than this is not attainable in compound eyes of realistic size, because of the limit imposed by diffraction. The smaller the interommatidial angle, the greater the distance at which objects—prey, predators, foliage, or flowers—can be resolved. Insects with different lifestyles have contrasting patterns of interommatidial angle distribution, related to forward flight, capture on the wing, and predation on horizontal surfaces.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.