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Buffry AD, Currea JP, Franke-Gerth FA, Palavalli-Nettimi R, Bodey AJ, Rau C, Samadi N, Gstöhl SJ, Schlepütz CM, McGregor AP, Sumner-Rooney L, Theobald J, Kittelmann M. Evolution of compound eye morphology underlies differences in vision between closely related Drosophila species. BMC Biol 2024; 22:67. [PMID: 38504308 PMCID: PMC10953123 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-024-01864-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Insects have evolved complex visual systems and display an astonishing range of adaptations for diverse ecological niches. Species of Drosophila melanogaster subgroup exhibit extensive intra- and interspecific differences in compound eye size. These differences provide an excellent opportunity to better understand variation in insect eye structure and the impact on vision. Here we further explored the difference in eye size between D. mauritiana and its sibling species D. simulans. RESULTS We confirmed that D. mauritiana have rapidly evolved larger eyes as a result of more and wider ommatidia than D. simulans since they recently diverged approximately 240,000 years ago. The functional impact of eye size, and specifically ommatidia size, is often only estimated based on the rigid surface morphology of the compound eye. Therefore, we used 3D synchrotron radiation tomography to measure optical parameters in 3D, predict optical capacity, and compare the modelled vision to in vivo optomotor responses. Our optical models predicted higher contrast sensitivity for D. mauritiana, which we verified by presenting sinusoidal gratings to tethered flies in a flight arena. Similarly, we confirmed the higher spatial acuity predicted for Drosophila simulans with smaller ommatidia and found evidence for higher temporal resolution. CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrates that even subtle differences in ommatidia size between closely related Drosophila species can impact the vision of these insects. Therefore, further comparative studies of intra- and interspecific variation in eye morphology and the consequences for vision among other Drosophila species, other dipterans and other insects are needed to better understand compound eye structure-function and how the diversification of eye size, shape, and function has helped insects to adapt to the vast range of ecological niches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra D Buffry
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - John P Currea
- Integrative Biology and Physiology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Franziska A Franke-Gerth
- Molecular Evolution and Systematics of Animals, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Talstrasse 33, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ravindra Palavalli-Nettimi
- Institute of the Environment and Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Andrew J Bodey
- Diamond Light Source Ltd, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, UK
| | - Christoph Rau
- Diamond Light Source Ltd, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, UK
| | - Nazanin Samadi
- Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
| | - Stefan J Gstöhl
- Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
| | - Christian M Schlepütz
- Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
| | - Alistair P McGregor
- Department of Biosciences, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Lauren Sumner-Rooney
- Museum Für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Jamie Theobald
- Institute of the Environment and Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Maike Kittelmann
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK.
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Palavalli-Nettimi R, Theobald J. Insect Neurobiology: How a Small Spot Stops a Fly. Curr Biol 2020; 30:R761-R763. [PMID: 32634415 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Animals often respond to small moving features very differently than they do to large moving fields. A new study finds that viewing small spots causes walking fruit flies to stop in their tracks, and identifies the cellular pathway that processes this signal.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jamie Theobald
- Florida International University, Department of Biological Sciences, Miami, FL 33199, USA.
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Soanes K, Cranney K, Dade MC, Edwards AM, Palavalli-Nettimi R, Doherty TS. How to work with children and animals: A guide for school-based citizen science in wildlife research. AUSTRAL ECOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.12836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kylie Soanes
- School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences; The University of Melbourne; Parkville Victoria Australia
| | - Kate Cranney
- Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis; The University of Melbourne; Parkville Victoria Australia
| | - Marie C. Dade
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences; The University of Queensland; St Lucia Queensland Australia
| | - Amy M. Edwards
- Department of Ecology; Environment and Evolution; La Trobe University; Bundoora Victoria Australia
| | | | - Tim S. Doherty
- Centre for Integrative Ecology; School of Life and Environmental Sciences (Burwood Campus); Deakin University; Geelong Victoria Australia
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Ogawa Y, Ryan LA, Palavalli-Nettimi R, Seeger O, Hart NS, Narendra A. Spatial Resolving Power and Contrast Sensitivity Are Adapted for Ambient Light Conditions in Australian Myrmecia Ants. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
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Palavalli-Nettimi R, Ogawa Y, Ryan LA, Hart NS, Narendra A. Miniaturisation reduces contrast sensitivity and spatial resolving power in ants. J Exp Biol 2019; 222:jeb.203018. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.203018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 05/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Vision is crucial for animals to find prey, locate conspecifics, and to navigate within cluttered landscapes. Animals need to discriminate objects against a visually noisy background. However, the ability to detect spatial information is limited by eye size. In insects, as individuals become smaller, the space available for the eyes reduces, which affects the number of ommatidia, the size of the lens and the downstream information processing capabilities. The evolution of small body size in a lineage, known as miniaturisation, is common in insects. Here, using pattern electroretinography with vertical sinusoidal gratings as stimuli, we studied how miniaturisation affects spatial resolving power and contrast sensitivity in four diurnal ants that live in a similar environment but varied in their body and eye size. We found that ants with fewer and smaller ommatidial facets had lower spatial resolving power and contrast sensitivity. The spatial resolving power was maximum in the largest ant Myrmecia tarsata at 0.60 cycles per degree (cpd) compared to the ant with smallest eyes Rhytidoponera inornata that had 0.48 cpd. Maximum contrast sensitivity (minimum contrast threshold) in M. tarsata (2627 facets) was 15.51 (6.4% contrast detection threshold) at 0.1 cpd, while the smallest ant R. inornata (227 facets) had a maximum contrast sensitivity of 1.34 (74.1% contrast detection threshold) at 0.05 cpd. This is the first study to physiologically investigate contrast sensitivity in the context of insect allometry. Miniaturisation thus dramatically decreases maximum contrast sensitivity and also reduces spatial resolution, which could have implications for visually guided behaviours.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yuri Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Laura A. Ryan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Nathan S. Hart
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Ajay Narendra
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
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Palavalli-Nettimi R, Sane SP. Fairyflies. Curr Biol 2018; 28:R1331-R1332. [PMID: 30513325 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
A Quick Guide to fairyflies, miniature parasitoid wasps which have the smallest adult size known for any insect.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sanjay P Sane
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental research, GKVK campus, Bellary Road, Bangalore, Karnataka 560065, India.
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Palavalli-Nettimi R, Narendra A. Miniaturisation decreases visual navigational competence in ants. J Exp Biol 2018; 221:jeb.177238. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.177238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2018] [Accepted: 02/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Evolution of smaller body size in a given lineage, called miniaturisation, is commonly observed in many animals including ants. It affects various morphological features and is hypothesized to result in inferior behavioural capabilities, possibly owing to smaller sensory organs. To test this hypothesis, we studied whether reduced spatial resolution of compound eyes influences obstacle detection or obstacle avoidance in five different species of ants. We trained all ant species to travel to a sugar feeder. During their return journeys, we placed an obstacle close to the nest entrance. We found that ants with higher spatial resolution exited the corridor, the area covered between either ends of the obstacle, on average 10 cm earlier suggesting they detected the obstacle earlier in their path. Ants with the lowest spatial resolution changed their viewing directions only when they were close to the obstacle. We discuss the effects of miniaturisation on visual navigational competence in ants.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ajay Narendra
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
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