spectral sensitivity
- Vision in the snapping shrimp Alpheus heterochaelis
Summary: Morphological, physiological and behavioral approaches demonstrate for the first time that the eyes of snapping shrimp provide spatial vision.
- Light avoidance by a non-ocular photosensing system in the terrestrial slug Limax valentianus
Highlighted Article: Terrestrial slugs of the genus Limax exhibit negative phototaxis behaviour even if their eyes are removed, possibly by using their brain as a photosensor, which expresses several opsin mRNA species.
- Differences in ocular media transmittance in classical frog and toad model species and its impact on visual sensitivity
Summary: The transmittance properties of the ocular media affect sensitivity to visual stimuli. Among frogs, the lenses of ranids are less transmissive than those of bufonids, decreasing sensitivity to ultraviolet light.
- Electrical interactions between photoreceptors in the compound eye of Periplaneta americana
Summary: In the compound eye of the American cockroach, complex electrical interactions take place between green- and UV-sensitive photoreceptors in each ommatidium.
- Non-linear amplification of graded voltage signals in the first-order visual interneurons of the butterfly Papilio xuthus
Summary: LMCs in the visual system of Papilio xuthus use two information-coding strategies: a graded coding and a mixed coding involving action-potential like spikes. Use of spikes depends on light level.
- Extreme polarisation sensitivity in the retina of the corn borer moth Ostrinia
Summary: Polarisation vision in the moths is not confined to the dorsal rim area; the retina of Crambid, Noctuid and Saturniid moths and some dung beetles contains distal photoreceptors with extremely high polarisation sensitivity.
- Retinal specialization through spatially varying cell densities and opsin coexpression in cichlid fish
Summary: Cichlid retinas show spatial variation with an area centralis that has higher photoreceptor and ganglion cell density and less opsin coexpression. Visual modeling suggests this may reflect a trade-off between colour discrimination and contrast detection.
- The unusual eyes of Xenos peckii (Strepsiptera: Xenidae) have green- and UV-sensitive photoreceptors
Highlighted Article: Electroretinogram-based spectral response measurements suggest dichromacy in twisted-wing parasites.
- The ocelli of Archaeognatha (Hexapoda): functional morphology, pigment migration and chemical nature of the reflective tapetum
Summary: The ocelli of the jumping bristletail Machilis hrabei have a reflective tapetum containing xanthine crystals. The screening pigment in the photoreceptor cells migrates behind the tapetum upon dark adaptation.