Skip Navigation


Journal of Electron Microscopy Advance Access originally published online on January 4, 2007
Journal of Electron Microscopy 2006 55(6):289-300; doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfl035
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
55/6/289    most recent
dfl035v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mishra, M.
Right arrow Articles by Meyer-Rochow, V. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mishra, M.
Right arrow Articles by Meyer-Rochow, V. B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Eye ultrastructure in the pollen-feeding beetle, Xanthochroa luteipennis (Coleoptera: Cucujiformia: Oedemeridae)

Monalisa Mishra1 and Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow1,2,*

1 International University Bremen (from February 2007 ‘Jacobs University’), School of Engineering and Science, Research II Campus Ring 6; D-28759 Bremen, Germany
2 University of Oulu, Department of Biology (Zoological Museum) POBox 3000, SF-90014 OULU, Finland

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: b.meyer-rochow{at}iu-bremen.de

The pollen-consuming beetle Xanthochroa luteipennis, which belongs to the family Oedemeridae, possesses a nearly spherical eye of ~400 µm in diameter. The eye contains 750–800, mostly hexagonal ommatidia, which are of the acone apposition type and have an open rhabdom. A well-developed pupil mechanism controls the light flux to the rhabdom. The pupil is formed with the help of screening pigment translocations, involving primary and secondary (accessory) pigment cells. Cross-sections of rhabdoms reveal that they are developed as ring-like structures, made up of the rhabdomeres of six retinula cells, surrounding a rod-like inner column of two fused rhabdomeres. Rhabdoms of ommatidia in the middle of the eye differ somewhat from those in more peripheral areas. In the former the central rhabdom is circular in cross-section, while in the latter it is spindle-shaped. The rhabdom organization in combination with the distal pupil mechanism is seen as an adaptation to maximize photon capture under a variety of ambient light intensities, for Oedemerid beetles are commonly active during the day as well as the night.

Keywords     compound eye, vision, retina, pupil mechanism, open rhabdom, blister beetles

Received     27 September 2006, accepted 21 November 2006


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.