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Specific misalignments of rhabdomere visual axes in the neural superposition eye of dipteran flies

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Abstract

In the compound eye of flies, the divergence angles between the visual axes of adjacent rhabdomeres are systematically larger than the corresponding interommatidial angles: neurommatidia are focused to distances of about 3–6 mm from the cornea surface. This special arrangement of rhabdomeres is considered as an adaptation of receptor cells R1–R6 for high absolute light sensitivity and, in addition, may possibly aid in estimating distances of visual objects.

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Pick, B. Specific misalignments of rhabdomere visual axes in the neural superposition eye of dipteran flies. Biol. Cybernetics 26, 215–224 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00366593

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