The world. Five-Eyes Insect

The world of insects is diverse and interesting. It can be studied indefinitely, but I would like to find the answer: is there a five-eyed insect in nature? It's hard to believe, but there is such a phenomenon. Beings with several pairs of eyes are quite numerous. For example, a spider has 8 eyes. But the five-eyed insect is a habitual fly, and also a bee, hornet and dragonfly. Let's talk more about flies and bees, as these insects are of interest to many.

Fly Tsokotukha

A fly is an annoying insect that hurts us every year, but it survives almost entirely thanks to man. There are more than 1000 different types of flies, and many of them live near human habitation.

The study of the organs of sight of flies is of great interest. Five-eyed insect fly sees the world in a special way. The main pair of eyes in her consists of separate small segments-eyes. Each such eye is called a facet, and the whole organ of vision as a whole is the faceted eye. In total, the usual room flyweight eye counts 4000 small lens facets. With such a complex organ, flies can well view objects from a close distance, especially creeping over them. However, nature decided that the fly is not enough, and added three more simple eyes to the insect on the forehead. The multi-faceted 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 facetted eyes of flies are huge in relation to the size of the head. They are especially large in males. The eyes of many males are connected on the forehead. The picture before the facetted eyes of the insect varies with a frequency of 250 Hz, for comparison, this figure in humans is 60 Hz. That's why the fly is so hard to catch or slam, because it seems to her that the fly swatter is flying, like in a slow motion picture.

Five-Eyes Bee

Here, it would seem, what else can surprise us? But you can! Imagine a bee has several eyes on the crown of the head. It is also a five-eyed insect, but its additional organs are not located on the forehead, but behind the head.

The two large lateral eyes of the bee, like those of flies, are faceted. Each cell transmits information not about the whole subject, but only about its small part, and the general image is added by the brain of the insect. To the general image is attached information obtained by simple eyes. Here, only the light stream, which the bee can distinguish, consists of shorter waves. The insect distinguishes between ultraviolet waves and sees much more shades.

Why do bees have so many eyes?

Researchers put forward the theory that for observations of closely located objects, the bees use 3 simple eyes. And during the flight they are guided by the faceted vision. However, beekeepers do not completely agree with this statement. They noticed that if a bee gets damaged facet eyes, then begins to stumble on objects, like a blind. But if the simple eyes are damaged, then the vision does not disappear, just the insect reacts more slowly to the surrounding world.

Such a complex system of vision is necessary for bees to protect the family and to obtain food. A male, drone sharp eyes helps find a female for mating.

Some interesting facts

As is known, the dragonfly is also a five-eyed insect. But her visions are even more complicated. The eye of the dragonfly totals 28 thousand facets and can catch 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 the sight of dragonflies. This insect has panoramic vision. And the review - 360 °.

An interesting fact can be considered that the hornets, even five-eyed insects, despite the external resemblance to bees, additional eyes are located not on the crown, but on the forehead. They form a small triangle between a pair of facetted eyes.