Seeing the world through the eyes of a butterfly: visual ecology of the territorial males of Pararge aegeria (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol
; 207(6): 701-713, 2021 11.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34709430
ABSTRACT
Combining studies of animal visual systems with exact imaging of their visual environment can get us a step closer to understand how animals see their "Umwelt". Here, we have combined both methods to better understand how males of the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria, see the surroundings of their perches. These males are well known to sit and wait for a chance to mate with a passing females, in sunspot territories in European forests. We provide a detailed description of the males' body and head posture, viewing direction, visual field and spatial resolution, as well as the visual environment. Pararge aegeria has sexually dimorphic eyes, the smallest interommatidial angles of males are around 1°, those of females 1.5°. Perching males face the antisolar direction with their retinal region of the highest resolution pointing at an angle of about 45° above the horizon; thus, looking at a rather even and dark background in front of which they likely have the best chance to detect a sunlit female passing through the sunspot.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Orientação
/
Territorialidade
/
Borboletas
/
Campos Visuais
/
Fenômenos Ecológicos e Ambientais
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article