Laboratory of Neuroethology, Sokendai (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Shonan Village, Hayama 2400193, Japan.
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Sep 7;279(1742):3482-90. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0475. Epub 2012 May 23.
The eye of the Glacial Apollo butterfly, Parnassius glacialis, a 'living fossil' species of the family Papilionidae, contains three types of spectrally heterogeneous ommatidia. Electron microscopy reveals that the Apollo rhabdom is tiered. The distal tier is composed exclusively of photoreceptors expressing opsins of ultraviolet or blue-absorbing visual pigments, and the proximal tier consists of photoreceptors expressing opsins of green or red-absorbing visual pigments. This organization is unique because the distal tier of other known butterflies contains two green-sensitive photoreceptors, which probably function in improving spatial and/or motion vision. Interspecific comparison suggests that the Apollo rhabdom retains an ancestral tiered pattern with some modification to enhance its colour vision towards the long-wavelength region of the spectrum.
冰川阿波罗蝴蝶（Parnassius glacialis）的眼睛是鳞翅目凤蝶科的一种“活化石”物种，它包含三种光谱异质小眼。电子显微镜显示，阿波罗小眼的光感受器呈分层排列。远端层完全由表达紫外或蓝光吸收视觉色素的视蛋白的光感受器组成，而近端层则由表达绿或红光吸收视觉色素的视蛋白的光感受器组成。这种组织形式是独特的，因为其他已知蝴蝶的远端层包含两个对绿光敏感的光感受器，它们可能在提高空间和/或运动视觉方面发挥作用。种间比较表明，阿波罗小眼保留了一个祖先的分层模式，经过一些修改以增强其对光谱长波长区域的色觉。
