Summary
The absorption maxima (λ max) of the visual pigments in the ommatidia ofNotonecta glauca were found by measuring the difference spectra of single rhabdomeres after alternating illumination with two different adaptation wavelengths. All the peripheral rhabdomeres contain a pigment with an extinction maximum at 560 nm. This pigment is sensitive to red light up to wavelengths > 700 nm. In a given ommatidium in the dorsal region of the eye, the two central rhabdomeres both contain one of two pigments, either a pigment with an absorption maximum in the UV, at 345 nm, or — in neighboring rhabdoms — a pigment with an absorption maximum at 445 nm. In the ventral part of the eye only the pigment absorbing maximally in the UV was found in the central rhabdomeres. The spectral absorption properties of various types of screening-pigment granules were measured.
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Schwind, R., Schlecht, P. & Langer, H. Microspectrophotometric characterization and localization of three visual pigments in the compound eye ofNotonecta glauca L. (Heteroptera). J. Comp. Physiol. 154, 341–346 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605233
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605233