Nature 254, 435 - 437 (03 April 1975); doi:10.1038/254435a0

Visual adaptation in butterflies

D. G. STAVENGA

Biophysical Department, Laboratorium voor Algemene Natuurkunde, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

THE brilliant glow appearing in the compound eye of butterflies has intrigued investigators of insect eyes since the observations of Exner¹. Miller and Bernard have presented a convincing optical interpretation of the butterfly glow, that the tracheole basal to the rhabdom is modified in such a way as to act as a quarter wavelength interference reflection filter (see refs 2−4). On light adaptation, the eye glow vanishes rapidly¹. Miller and Bernard have conjectured that this is caused by a distal migration of pigment granules in the pigment cells surrounding the crystalline cone².

References

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