ABSTRACT
Photoreceptors ................................................................................. 167 6.3.3 Fluorescence Microscopy and the Deep Pseudopupil of
Mutant Fly Eyes.............................................................................. 168 6.3.4 Fly Photoreceptor Optics ................................................................ 169 6.3.5 Angular and Spectral Sensitivity .................................................... 171
6.4 Butterfly Eyes.............................................................................................. 173 6.4.1 Anatomy .......................................................................................... 173 6.4.2 Retinal Heterogeneity ..................................................................... 173 6.4.3 Epi-illumination Microscopy and Eye Shine ................................. 174 6.4.4 In Vivo Microspectrophotometry of Butterfly Visual Pigments ..... 179 6.4.5 Image Analysis of Butterfly Eye Shine .......................................... 179
6.5 Conclusions and Outlook............................................................................ 179 Acknowledgments................................................................................................. 181 References............................................................................................................. 181
Insects are highly visual animals, having evolved an elaborate visual system with which to sample a wide range of complex optical signals in their varied environments. The main input organs, a pair of large compound eyes, often cover a large fraction of the insect’s head. In addition, three single-lens eyes (ocelli) are usually positioned on the upper part of the head, between the compound eyes. Research on ocelli has been relatively scanty, and therefore, most progress in understanding insect vision has been achieved through studies on the compound eyes, the main topic of the present chapter.
