Mosquito Eye Pattern

NikonUser · Post by **NikonUser** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:49 am

I have never noticed this before.
At the top of the eye the facets are in horizontal rows.
At the bottom of the eye they are in vertical columns.
They meet at about the middle of the eye where the pattern can be interpreted as concentric radii centered on a point at the back of the eye.
Maybe this is the most economical way to pack together the hexagonal facets on a convex surface.

Rather worn female Culex pipiens in garage, probably hibernating (Nov 14 2009).

Nikon 10x CF N Achromat pushed to 15x on 23.6mm sensor; full frame, 26 frames @ 0.010mm; ZS PMax

NU09240

paulheijmink · Post by **paulheijmink** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 6:05 am

Just wonderful details and interesting pattern.

Paul

LordV · Post by **LordV** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:47 am

Excellent details !
brian V.

morfa · Post by **morfa** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:37 am

Wow, this is fantastic NU! The eyes are amazing but what I enjoy at least as much is the variety of bristles of different shapes and configurations.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:27 am

Very nice picture!

I believe the appearance of rows and columns here is mostly an illusion caused by viewing a hexagonal array from an oblique angle. If you study closely the areas that seem to be rows and columns, you can see that there is 1/2 facet offset between adjacent lines, so that each facet is surrounded by six neighbors, not four. Changing the viewpoint to look perpendicularly down on those areas would show them to be hexagonal also.

You're right that there's a packing problem -- a convex surface cannot be covered with a perfectly regular hexagonal pattern of fixed size facets. I recall seeing some pictures a year or two ago of some other critter that clearly had an almost rectangular layout (rows and columns) even in a perpendicular view. But I don't think that's what we seeing in the current specimen.

--Rik

tpe · Post by **tpe** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:40 am

Really nice indeed, very impressive and inspiring.

Tim

PaulFurman · Post by **PaulFurman** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:39 pm

What's surprising to me is what look like butterfly scales on it!
Really captivating image.

NikonUser · Post by **NikonUser** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:59 am

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

All these scales are modified hairs but I have been unable to find any info on the various types or their functions. I would have thought that some entomology-type would have 'classified' the types of scales.

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:12 am

NikonUser wrote:I have never noticed this before.
At the top of the eye the facets are in horizontal rows.
At the bottom of the eye they are in vertical columns.
They meet at about the middle of the eye where the pattern can be interpreted as concentric radii centered on a point at the back of the eye.
Maybe this is the most economical way to pack together the hexagonal facets on a convex surface.

I find that I can see all of them in rows or columns by consciously choosing, the switch being instantaneous.

Harold

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:15 am

NikonUser wrote:All these scales are modified hairs

The word "these" caught my attention. Are butterfly scales not modified hairs? If they are not, what is the difference?

--Rik

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:27 pm

rjlittlefield wrote:
NikonUser wrote:All these scales are modified hairs
The word "these" caught my attention. Are butterfly scales not modified hairs? If they are not, what is the difference?

Scales are modified hairs in the Collembola, and probably wherever they occur in insects, in that there is nothing else to be so-modified.

Harold

Mosquito Eye Pattern

Mosquito Eye Pattern

Re: Mosquito Eye Pattern

Re: Mosquito Eye Pattern