Marbled Eyes - _TNY_3311
Zoom in on the eyes of this male European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum).
Notice how cool they look with all those spots? I love that look - but I am unable to learn what purpose the spots serve and how they work.
When looking at many insect eyes, there appears to be a pupil which always seem to look directly at us. But it isn't. It's something called the pseudopupil effect, which isn't an actual pupil at all - and doesn't look at you.
I read a good way to describe howe this works actually.: Imagine a black ball and then you cover all of it with green straws, with one end attached to the ball and the rest pointing outwards.
Looking at that will mean you see mostly the green straws, but for those straws that point exactly towards you will instead see the black ball straight through the straws and the end result is a black spot on a green ball resembling a pupil.
These guys however, have something else and it is really bugging me how they appear to almost have multiple pseudopupils - though they can't be that.
Long rants about insect eyes aside, this one was photographed at my regular spot for this species in my mother-in-law's garden, outside Härnösand, Sweden.
Marbled Eyes - _TNY_3311
Zoom in on the eyes of this male European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum).
Notice how cool they look with all those spots? I love that look - but I am unable to learn what purpose the spots serve and how they work.
When looking at many insect eyes, there appears to be a pupil which always seem to look directly at us. But it isn't. It's something called the pseudopupil effect, which isn't an actual pupil at all - and doesn't look at you.
I read a good way to describe howe this works actually.: Imagine a black ball and then you cover all of it with green straws, with one end attached to the ball and the rest pointing outwards.
Looking at that will mean you see mostly the green straws, but for those straws that point exactly towards you will instead see the black ball straight through the straws and the end result is a black spot on a green ball resembling a pupil.
These guys however, have something else and it is really bugging me how they appear to almost have multiple pseudopupils - though they can't be that.
Long rants about insect eyes aside, this one was photographed at my regular spot for this species in my mother-in-law's garden, outside Härnösand, Sweden.