The eyes of a patrolling butterfly: Visual field and eye structure in the Orange Sulphur, Colias eurytheme (Lepidoptera, Pieridae)

Sensory information plays a critical role in determining an animal's behavior on both proximate and evolutionary timescales. Butterflies, like many other insects, use vision extensively over their lifetimes, and yet relatively little work has been published to date on their visual capabilities....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of insect physiology 2006-03, Vol.52 (3), p.240-248
Main Authors: Merry, Justin W., Morehouse, Nathan I., Yturralde, Kasey, Rutowski, Ronald L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allometry
Animals
Behavior, Animal - physiology
body size
butterflies
Butterflies - anatomy & histology
Butterflies - physiology
Colias eurytheme
Compound eye
compound eyes
Eye - anatomy & histology
Eye morphology
eye regions
eye surface area
Female
gender differences
insect morphology
Male
Pieridae
Regional variation
Vision
Visual Acuity - physiology
Visual Fields - physiology
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Summary:Sensory information plays a critical role in determining an animal's behavior on both proximate and evolutionary timescales. Butterflies, like many other insects, use vision extensively over their lifetimes, and yet relatively little work has been published to date on their visual capabilities. We describe the visual system of a pierid butterfly, Colias eurytheme, with the ultimate goal of better understanding its role in shaping the behavior of this animal. We made several measurements: visual field dimensions, eye surface area, interommatidial angle (Δ ϕ), facet diameter ( D), and eye parameter ( p). C. eurytheme had a large visual field and considerable regional variation in visual acuity, as inferred by Δ ϕ and D. When compared to females, males had larger eye surface areas, smaller Δ ϕ, and larger D in all regions except ventrally. Both sexes had proportionally large eye surface areas compared to other butterflies. Minimum p in males was small, indicating that some regions of their eyes may operate close to the diffraction limit. Finally, we found that both eye surface area and D scaled positively, but with negative allometry to body size. We discuss the relevance of these visual characteristics to the biology and behavior of C. eurytheme.
ISSN:0022-1910
1879-1611
DOI:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2005.11.002