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Can an individual bee ommatidium detect an image?

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Summary

Even if the dioptric apparatus of the worker bee provided a crisp image at the entrance to the rhabdom, the detection of this image is theoretically impossible due to a phenomenon of mode propagation analogous to acoustic beating or interference.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mathematics, Research School of Physical Sciences, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Allan W. Snyder & Colin Pask

Authors
  1. Allan W. Snyder
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  2. Colin Pask
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Additional information

Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow.

We thank Professor G. A. Horridge and Simon Laughlin for their assistance with this study.

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Snyder, A.W., Pask, C. Can an individual bee ommatidium detect an image?. J. Comp. Physiol. 80, 51–55 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00694327

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00694327

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