The Challenge of Being Small: Compound Eye Miniaturization in Lepidoptera
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1
Jacobs University Bremen, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Germany
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2
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Department Cytology and Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute and Museum, Germany
In spite of the numerous studies on insect compound eyes within the last 100 years, the number of investigations specifically dealing with the eyes of species of small body size is near to negligible. Based on theoretical optical examinations it had been predicted that an unlimited reduction in the size of a compound eye, especially if the latter was of the superposition type, was not possible; a suggestion that begged the question as to how the tiniest insects might then deal with the postulated restrictions. To demonstrate that optical and structural modifications are indeed widespread, a detailed study of eye miniaturizations involving tiny lepidopteran species (2-6 mm) to determine limiting factors and specific adaptations seemed timely and interesting. With one exception, all of the subsequently investigated species revealed eye structures for which a clear morphological division into apposition and superposition eyes was not feasible. Thus the need arose to describe and discuss some intermediate types of eye. It appears that due to functional morphological constraints as a consequence of miniaturization, an evolutionary transformation from superposition to apposition optics has occurred at least once within the “Microlepidoptera”. As an example for this evolutionary scenario we discuss in detail the unique eye design discovered in Phyllonorycter medicaginella (Gerasimov, 1930) and then consider more generally functional and morphological limiting factors that impacted on compound eye miniaturization.
Keywords:
Miniaturization,
superposition,
apposition,
compound eyes,
Lepidoptera,
Insects
Conference:
International Conference on Invertebrate Vision, Fjälkinge, Sweden, 1 Aug - 8 Aug, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral presentation preferred
Topic:
Eye design, optics and spatial vision
Citation:
Fischer
S,
Müller
CH and
Meyer-Rochow
B
(2019). The Challenge of Being Small: Compound Eye Miniaturization in Lepidoptera.
Front. Physiol.
Conference Abstract:
International Conference on Invertebrate Vision.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fphys.2013.25.00052
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Received:
28 Feb 2013;
Published Online:
09 Dec 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Stefan Fischer, Jacobs University Bremen, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Bremen, 28759, Germany, s.fischer@jacobs-university.de