The world of insects is diverse and interesting. You can study it indefinitely, but I would like to find the answer: is there a five-eyed insect in nature? It's hard to believe, but such a phenomenon exists. There are quite a few creatures with several pairs of eyes. For example, a spider has 8 eyes. But the five-eyed insect is a familiar fly for everyone, as well as a bee, hornet and dragonfly. Let's talk in more detail about flies and bees, as these insects are of interest to many.
Fly Tsokotukha
A fly is an annoying insect that harms us every year, but it survives almost completely thanks to humans. There are more than 1000 different species of flies, and many of them live near human habitation.
The study of the organs of vision of flies is of great interest. The five-eyed insect fly sees the world in a special way. The main pair of eyes in her consists of separate small segments of the eye. Each such eye is called a facet, and the entire organ of vision as a whole is a facet eye. In total, an ordinary housefly has 4,000 small facet lenses. With such a complex organ, flies can well view objects from close range, especially crawling over them. However, nature decided that the fly was not enough, and added three more simple eyes to the insect on the forehead. Multiple facet eyes located on the sides of the head and 3 simple eyes on the front of the head provide this five-eyed insect with an almost circular view.
The faceted eyes of the flies are huge in relation to the size of the head. They are especially great in males. The eyes of many males are connected on the forehead. The picture in front of the faceted eyes of the insect changes with a frequency of 250 Hz, for comparison, this indicator in humans is 60 Hz. That is why the fly is so hard to catch or slam, because it seems to her that the fly swatter is flying, as in a slow motion movie.
Five-eyed bee
Here, it would seem, what else can surprise us? But you can! Imagine a bee has several eyes on its crown. It is also a five-eyed insect, but its additional organs are not located on the forehead, but behind the head.
The two large side eyes of the bee, like that of flies, are faceted. Each cell does not transmit information about the entire subject, but only about its small part, and the insect brain adds up the general picture. The information received by simple eyes joins the general image. Here are just the light flux that a bee is able to distinguish, consists of shorter waves. The insect distinguishes ultraviolet waves and sees much more shades.
Why do bees have so many eyes?
Researchers have put forward the theory that bees use 3 simple eyes to observe closely spaced objects. And during the flight they are guided by facet vision. However, beekeepers do not quite agree with this statement. They noticed that if a bee receives damage to its faceted eyes, it begins to stumble upon objects, like a blind one. But if simple eyes are damaged, then vision does not disappear, just an insect responds more slowly to the outside world.
Such a complex system of vision is necessary for bees to protect the family and get food. And for males, drones, sharp vision helps to find a female for mating.
Some interesting facts
As you know, dragonfly is also a five-eyed insect. But her organs of vision are even more complex. The eye of a dragonfly has 28 thousand facets and can capture ultraviolet waves. In addition, the dragonfly polarizes the image, which allows it to reduce reflections from the surface of the water.
Another interesting fact about dragonfly vision . This insect has panoramic vision. Moreover, the review is 360 °.
An interesting fact is that the hornets, another five-eyed insects, despite their resemblance to bees, have extra eyes not on the crown of the head, but on the forehead. They make up a small triangle between a pair of facet eyes.