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Electrophysiological measurements of spectral mechanisms in the retinas of two cervids: white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fallow deer (Dama dama)

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Abstract

Electroretinogram (ERG) flicker photometry was used to study the spectral mechanisms in the retinas of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fallow deer (Dama dama). In addition to having a rod pigment with maximum sensitivity (λmax) of about 497 nm, both species appear to have two classes of photopic receptors. They share in common a short-wavelength-sensitive cone mechanism having λmax in the region of 450–460 nm. Each also has a cone having peak sensitivity in the middle wavelengths, but these differ slightly for the two species. In white-tailed deer the λmax of this cone is about 537 nm; for the fallow deer the average λmax value for this mechanism was 542 nm. Deer resemble other ungulates and many other types of mammal in having two classes of cone pigment and, thus, the requisite retinal basis for dichromatic color vision.

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Abbreviations

ERG:

electroretinogram

LWS:

long wavelength sensitive

MWS:

middle wavelength sensitive

SWS:

short wavelength sensitive

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, 93106, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    G. H. Jacobs & J. F. Deegan II

  2. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, 52226, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    J. Neitz

  3. D. B. Warnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, 30602, Athens, GA, USA

    B. P. Murphy, K. V. Miller & R. L. Marchinton

Authors
  1. G. H. Jacobs
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  2. J. F. Deegan II
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  3. J. Neitz
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  4. B. P. Murphy
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  5. K. V. Miller
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  6. R. L. Marchinton
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Jacobs, G.H., Deegan, J.F., Neitz, J. et al. Electrophysiological measurements of spectral mechanisms in the retinas of two cervids: white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fallow deer (Dama dama). J Comp Physiol A 174, 551–557 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00217375

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00217375

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