Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Karolina út 29, Budapest H-1113, Hungary.
Doctoral School of Environmental Sciences, Eötvös University, Pázmány sétány 1, Budapest H-1117 Hungary.
Proc Biol Sci. 2022 Apr 27;289(1973):20220318. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0318.
Aquatic insect species that leave the water after larval development, such as mayflies, have to deal with extremely different visual environments in their different life stages. Measuring the spectral sensitivity of the compound eyes of the virgin mayfly () resulted in differences between the sensitivity of adults and larvae. Larvae were primarily green-, while adults were mostly UV-sensitive. The sensitivity of adults and larvae was the same in the UV, but in the green spectral range, adults were 3.3 times less sensitive than larvae. Transmittance spectrum measurements of larval skins covering the eye showed that the removal of exuvium during emergence cannot explain the spectral sensitivity change of the eyes. Taking numerous sky spectra from the literature, the ratio of UV and green photons in the skylight was shown to be maximal for ≈ -13° solar elevation, which is in the = -14.7° and = -7.1° typical range of swarming that was established from webcam images of real swarmings. We suggest that the spectral sensitivity of both the larval and adult eyes are adapted to the optical environment of the corresponding life stages.
水生昆虫在幼虫发育后离开水，例如蜉蝣，它们在不同的生命阶段必须应对极其不同的视觉环境。测量处女蜉蝣 () 的复眼的光谱灵敏度导致成虫和幼虫之间的灵敏度差异。幼虫主要是绿色敏感的，而成虫则主要是对 UV 敏感。成虫和幼虫在 UV 中的灵敏度相同，但在绿色光谱范围内，成虫比幼虫的灵敏度低 3.3 倍。对覆盖眼睛的幼虫皮肤的透射率光谱测量表明，在出现过程中蜕皮不能解释眼睛的光谱灵敏度变化。从文献中获取了大量的天空光谱，结果表明在太阳仰角约为 -13°时，天空中的 UV 和绿光光子的比值最大，这与从真实群集的网络摄像头图像中建立的典型范围 = -14.7°和 = -7.1°的群集范围一致。我们认为，幼虫和成虫眼睛的光谱灵敏度都适应于相应生命阶段的光学环境。
