The properties of the visual system in the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti

摘要: Abstract The Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti shows remarkable visual navigational skills relying on rather than chemical cues during their foraging trips. M. ants travel individually through a visually cluttered environment guided by landmarks as well path integration. An examination of system is hence special interest and we address this here. Workers exhibit distinct size polymorphism eye ocelli increases with head size. possess typical apposition eyes about 420–590 ommatidia per eye, horizontal field approximately 150° facet lens diameters between 8 19 μm, depending body size, frontal facets being largest. average interommatidial angle Δϕ 3.7°, the acceptance rhabdom Δρrh 2.9°, diameter 1.6 μm blur at half-width Δρl 2.3°. With Δρrh/Δϕ ratio much less 2, undersample scene but provide high contrast, surprising detail landmark panorama that has been shown to be used for navigation.