Hello,
I was looking at different insects and arachnids and noticed some that had bright blue fluorescent eyes when excited with UV (@ 360-380 nm) equipped with a 410 nm longpass filter. Does this mean that the fluorescent eyes ensure they can see within those wavelengths or is it due to the various pigments present in their eyes and some just so happen to be fluorescent? Not entirely sure on this one.
Answers are much appreciated
Thank you
Hello,
some of these fluorescent materials in the eye corresponds to rhodopsin and non-rhodopsin protein complex, that allows the insect or arachnid to determine the nature and location of light sources.
Here you have some nice works that describe this. There are many others with description of these proteins, mainly those with rhodopsin, but the list is too large to include here.
with these two, you can make an idea of the postulated function of these pigments.
Kay R.E. (1969) Fluorescent materials in insect eyes and their possible relationship to ultra-violet sensitivity. J. Insect Physiol. 15(11): 2021-2038.
hope this helps you,
Beatriz
Some spiders (especially Lycosidae and Pisauridae) and some insects have reflective eyes. The tapetum in these families can reflect light so they see better at night, and the guanine that covers the tapetum is flourescent.
Beatriz: Thank very much I ordered the Kay paper and looked at the Mazza paper. That clears up much of the confusion.
Robert: Is that similar to why there is reflectivity of say raccoon eyes and others? Also, I remember reading about how certain spiders can see uv signals for sexual selection (I'll see if I can find the article). Would you know if their eyes would be fluorescent?
Here's the article I was referring to. It doesn't seem like the eyes of jumping spiders fluoresce, but they can still interpret uv signals? Maybe I am just confusing myself more.
Yes, the mechanisms and probably the biological function appears to be the same. Detecting UV such as jumping spiders are able to do is an absorption phenomena, while reflection would be different. It would not surprise me that more eyes have some reflectance, but only those with light reflecting properties may be able to have enough UV reflectance to be seen. Have you checked the wolf spiders and fisher spiders.
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