Visual acuity and sensitivity increase allometrically with body size in butterflies

Comparative morphological analysis of compound eye miniaturization in minute hymenoptera

“…This was also shown previously for larger specimens of several groups of insects (Yagi and Koyama, 1963;Menzel and Wehner, 1970;Jander and Jander, 2002;Rutowski et al, 2009;Döring and Spaethe, 2009;Fischer et al, 2013). …”

“…The need, relatively speaking, to increase the facet diameter in order to adapt the acceptance angle of the rhabdom to the interommatidial angle, can therefore explain the non allometric reduction in the number of facets, which has been shown to decrease in roughly linear proportion to body size in larger species (Yagi and Koyama, 1963;Menzel and Wehner, 1970;Jander and Jander, 2002;Rutowski et al, 2009;Döring and Spaethe, 2009;Fischer et al, 2013). Considering that a further decrease in the focal length (in order to increase sensitivity) is only possible by a further decrease in the outer radius of curvature of the lens (and thus at a certain point smaller facets) stands in contrast to the aforementioned need to have relatively large facet diameters.…”

How do eye size and facet lens size vary by age and sex inAcheta domesticus?

“…Furthermore, because visual acuity and sensitivity is dependent, in part, on facet lens size (Kirschfeld, 1976), animals with smaller eyes and smaller facets typically have poorer vision (Jander and Jander, 2002;Rutowski et al, 2009;Zollikofer, 1995). While differences across species and across castes have been well characterized in insects, developmental changes in eye size and facet diameter during growth remain largely unstudied.…”

The Dependence of Normal and Black Light Type Trapping Results Upon the Wingspan of Moth Species

“…Over the last decade, published studies supported the finding that the vision of insects with greater body weight is more sensitive to light than that of the smaller species. Such a statement was published concerning desert ants (Cataglyphis) (Zollikofer et al 1995); pollen foraging bees (Apoidea) (Jander and Jander, 2002); the bumblebees (Bombus terrestris L.) (Spaethe and Chittka, 2003) and Kapustjanskij et al 2007); the nymphalid butterflies (Nymphalidae) (Rutowski et al 2009). Moser et al (2004) found a connection between the size of eyes of 10 Atta species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and the time of nuptial flight using digital photography.…”