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The Retina-Lamina Pathway in Insects, Particularly Diptera, Viewed from an Evolutionary Perspective

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Facets of Vision

Abstract

The optical novelties peculiar to arthropod compound eyes would be of little use, were not the associated neural machinery tailored usefully to suit the optical design. We know very little about neural solutions to such matching problems. Neurobiologists are turning increasingly to thinking in evolutionary terms about changes in form and function in eyes, including alterations in the photopigments (Vogt this Vol.) and in the optics (Land and Nilsson this Vol.), but we are fundamentally ignorant about the ways that the neural apparatus might have changed during phylogeny. One progenitor of this volume, Exner, is remembered mostly for having exercised his talents upon optical aspects of compound eye design. By contrast, until recently, very little has been written about the basis for neural design and its evolution in insects or any other group of animals. Simple but powerful comparative methods are still of use in initial assaults upon such problems, an approach associated with the other mentor of the volume, Professor Autrum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Halifax, Canada

    Stephen R. Shaw

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  1. Stephen R. Shaw
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  1. Department of Biophysics, Laboratorium voor Algemene Natuurkunde Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Westersingel 34, NL-9718, CM Groningen, The Netherlands

    Doekele Gerben Stavenga

  2. Department of Zoology, Cambridge University, Downing Street, GB-Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, England

    Roger Clayton Hardie

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Shaw, S.R. (1989). The Retina-Lamina Pathway in Insects, Particularly Diptera, Viewed from an Evolutionary Perspective. In: Stavenga, D.G., Hardie, R.C. (eds) Facets of Vision. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74082-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74082-4_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74084-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74082-4

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