Biological and Experimental Psychology Group, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2010 Aug 10;5(8):e12049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012049.
The bumblebee Bombus impatiens is increasingly used as a model in comparative studies of colour vision, or in behavioural studies relying on perceptual discrimination of colour. However, full spectral sensitivity data on the photoreceptor inputs underlying colour vision are not available for B. impatiens. Since most known bee species are trichromatic, with photoreceptor spectral sensitivity peaks in the UV, blue and green regions of the spectrum, data from a related species, where spectral sensitivity measurements have been made, are often applied to B impatiens. Nevertheless, species differences in spectral tuning of equivalent photoreceptor classes may result in peaks that differ by several nm, which may have small but significant effects on colour discrimination ability. We therefore used intracellular recording to measure photoreceptor spectral sensitivity in B. impatiens. Spectral peaks were estimated at 347, 424 and 539 nm for UV, blue and green receptors, respectively, suggesting that this species is a UV-blue-green trichromat. Photoreceptor spectral sensitivity peaks are similar to previous measurements from Bombus terrestris, although there is a significant difference in the peak sensitivity of the blue receptor, which is shifted in the short wave direction by 12-13 nm in B. impatiens compared to B. terrestris.
熊蜂 Bombus impatiens 越来越多地被用作比较色觉研究或依赖于颜色感知辨别行为研究的模型。然而，B. impatiens 色觉的光感受器输入的全光谱灵敏度数据尚不可用。由于大多数已知的蜜蜂物种是三色的，光感受器的光谱灵敏度峰值在紫外线、蓝色和绿色光谱区域，因此经常将相关物种的光谱灵敏度测量数据应用于 B. impatiens。然而，同种但不同亚种的物种在等效光感受器类别的光谱调谐上可能存在差异，导致峰值相差几个纳米，这可能对颜色辨别能力产生微小但显著的影响。因此，我们使用细胞内记录来测量 B. impatiens 中的光感受器光谱灵敏度。紫外线、蓝色和绿色受体的光谱峰值分别估计为 347、424 和 539nm，表明该物种是 UV-蓝-绿三色的。尽管蓝色受体的峰值灵敏度存在显著差异，但光感受器的光谱灵敏度峰值与之前从 Bombus terrestris 测量的结果相似，与 B. terrestris 相比，B. impatiens 中的蓝色受体的峰值灵敏度在短波方向上移动了 12-13nm。
