SEM antics - more things you'll never see

Insect Eye Many insects have large compound eyes, made up of many six-sided compartments called ommatidia. Each ommatidium has a lens, a crystalline rod, and a collection of light-sensitive cells. Each ommatidium functions as a on/off and bright/dim detector. Insects with the best eyes can probably form a pretty good image, but they are best at detecting movement, for finding prey or for avoiding predators. Dragonflies may have as many as 36,000 ommatidia in each eye. Some insects, like bees and butterflies, can see colors well.

 

Return to home page or click related pages below...

SEMantics		Aphid Tag		Aphid/Toes		Insect Eye
Damselfly		Spider Eyes		Bug Band		GIF Animations