The structure of the honey bee's visual organs. How many eyes does a bee have? The eyes of a bee are simple and complex
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The variety of flowers in nature is simply amazing. The abundance of shapes, sizes, shades and smells delights, but I hasten to disappoint flower lovers: all this beauty by nature is not intended for humans, but exclusively for the insects that pollinate these plants, including bees.
Not all flowering plants have bright, striking eyes flowers, For many, they are not large, not noticeable and do not produce nectar. Such plants include cereals, conifers, poplars, and elms. Bees do not visit such flowers, and pollination of these plants occurs by the wind, which carries a huge amount of pollen grains.
These wind-pollinated plants can be contrasted a large number of insect-pollinated plants. They have flowers and secrete nectar, which attracts insects and through which cross-pollination of plants occurs; such flowers attract bees with their aroma or the variegated color of the corolla. The thought involuntarily arises of a deeper interaction between flowers and insects. There is a direct relationship between the colors of the flower and the vision of bees.
The bee has five eyes: two large multifaceted ones, and three simple eyes and located on the back of the head. Simple eyes are designed for orientation inside the socket. A compound eye consists of approximately 6000 simple, independent ocelli. The eyes occupy the surface of the head quite large area. The drone, due to the fact that it tracks the queen during the mating flight, has larger compound eyes than those of the worker bee and the queen: the number of ocelli in the drone’s eye reaches 8000. The vision of a compound eye is called mosaic, since its field, like a mosaic, is made up of the sum of the fields of individual eyes. The bee has the ability to distinguish between yellow, blue-green and blue-violet colors. The bee does not see red and does not distinguish it from black. Orange and green colors sees as weakened yellow. And unlike a person, a bee sees ultra-violet rays. The visual characteristics of a bee must be taken into account when painting hives in an apiary. There is no point in painting hives red; it is better to use white, yellow and blue colors.At the same time, the bee's eye distinguishes many shades of white.
It is interesting that in our vegetation pure red flowers are almost never found; most flowers mistaken for red have an admixture of purple shades in their color. For example, a poppy flower, the color of which approaches pure red. Nevertheless, they are diligently visited by bees. The thing is that the petals of poppy flowers, in addition to red rays, also reflect ultraviolet rays. Thus, the poppy is red for us, but for bees it has an “ultraviolet” color.
This photo shows creeping zinnia as we see it (left) and a photo in ultraviolet light (right) as bees see it. Photo taken from the Floral Reflectance Database (FReD). Bees see the petals as two colors, and the concentric shades attract them to the nectar. Bees see all the greenery surrounding the flower in yellow tones.
The bee also sees the shape of objects. She distinguishes star-shaped and cross-shaped shapes, reminiscent of the outlines of a flower, but does not distinguish circles, quadrangles and similar figures, which are not encountered in her practical activities. When a bee flies from a distance to a food source, it is guided by sight, and at close range it is also guided by smell. The human eye can distinguish between 20 and 24 individual flashes of light per second. If you make them more frequent, they merge and give the eye the impression of a continuous source of light. The movie is built on this principle. The rapidly changing frames are not visible individually, but since they are all slightly different, the eye receives the illusion of movement. A bee distinguishes up to 300 individual light signals per second and, thus, is 10 times greater than a human in frequency visual acuity. This has for a bee great importance. Movements too fast for human vision, are seen 10 times slower through the eyes of a bee. Thanks to this feature, a bee can easily avoid a collision with any fast-moving object and escape from danger.
We know that bees are hard-working insects. We love their honey, which they take such pains to make. We also use propolis, beeswax, poison in medical purposes. Over these centuries, people have managed to tame working insects. They bring benefits not only to people, but also to plants. It seems that we know everything about these workers. It becomes curious how they find fragrant flowers and purposefully fly to where they need to go? To do this, let's study the vision of a bee.
When most people are asked, “How many eyes does a bee have?” More than half will not be able to give the correct answer. If you look at the furry insect from afar, you can safely say that the honey bee has two large eyes. However, nature decided that this was not enough. Yes, visually she has a pair of rather large eyes.
We are confused by the elongated oval-shaped black balls located on the sides of the head. Findings from laboratory researchers help determine how many eyes a bee has. Upon detailed examination, bees additionally reveal three simple eyes. Their local location is on the crown, so it is impossible to immediately determine the exact number of visual organs of the insect. So how many eyes does a bee have? Detailed calculation required.
The head of a bee is a hard capsule. Upon magnification, it is revealed that the honey bee has eyes not only on the sides, but also on the back of the head capsule. There are a total of five eyes on a bee.
Let's look at the structure of complex and simple eyes in more detail. Oval large eyes are called facet eyes. This is a couple complex organs vision. Simple ocelli located on the parietal part of the capsule are also called ocelli. These are those eyes that contain no more than one lens.
It is believed that the additional triangle of eyes is of an auxiliary nature. Simple eyes help hardworking insects distinguish morning from evening and perceive the intensity of lighting in space.
As it has already turned out, the striped insect has complex vision. Of the five eyes, two multifaceted eyes are of particular interest. They are also called compound eyes - they represent about six thousand independent cells. In drones, the number of such independent eyes is approximately eight thousand. This is due to their functionality.
Important! The drones' job is to carefully monitor the queen during the mating season in the hive. It is for this reason that they have more complex vision than honey bees.
Insects have compound eyes that resemble honeycombs. They consist of individual eyes - hexagons located on the surface of the facet eye. A separate cell is called ommatidia.
Each of them consists of 8–9 oblong visual cells, which have a thin border directed inside the beam itself. In the process of combining the border, a glassy axis is formed. In it, light stimuli are processed through receptors using a chitinous lens and a crystal cone. Ommatidia are separated from each other by pigment cells.
Individually, each cell is capable of capturing only those rays that run parallel to the axis. By summing the rays from all ommatidia, the final appearance of the uninverted image is obtained. The sharpness of the image of an object in insects differs significantly from human visual perception.
The photo clearly shows how the environment is perceived by flying insects. Like a mosaic, the overall picture is divided into its small particles.
How do bees see?
Everything is clear about the number of eyes - in the end they were counted as many as five. The peculiarity of vision that the honey bee has is the difference in colors. What is interesting is how the world appears to these insects. Scientists have carefully studied this issue.
As it turned out, the spectrum of color perception is significantly shifted towards short waves. In other words, the structure of the eyes of bees is very different from animals and humans. For example, a striped insect will not see red, but violet shades are perceived normally.
That is, a flower meadow, especially a poppy one, is not a bright red carpet for them. From above, bees will perceive everything as purple. Small insects manage to see colors ranging from red to purple. Moreover, they are able to capture ultraviolet waves.
Important! When building a bee town, beekeepers will do well to take note of the structural features of the visual organ of insects. The color of the hives is chosen based on the preferences of their future inhabitants.
Striped insects can distinguish up to two hundred light flashes per second. For comparison, a person can distinguish only 20. This speed helps insects communicate with each other.
Their dynamic movement in the hive, moving their paws and wings are a kind of signals that they transmit to their brothers. From the outside, a person does not notice any peculiarities in the movement of bees. But insects, using their “language,” are able to accurately determine the distance to the required flower. Even swinging the flower to the sides will not prevent the bees from losing their distance.
Knowing how many pairs of compound eyes the inhabitants of the hives have, one can assume that their vision is akin to that of an eagle, but this is far from the case. The bee individual is able to focus exclusively on large objects. Her eye is physically unable to perceive tiny details. Compared to humans, the latter perceives objects 30 times smaller than those seen by honey bees.
How does vision function in bees?
Each of the facet cells tends to be responsible only for image fragments. The number of individual parts of a particular object can reach up to a thousand. Then, like a puzzle, they are put together in the bee’s brain into a single picture. This kind of vision can be called mosaic. In other words, the overall picture consists of a large number of parts of the image. This mechanism is observed in the compound eyes of insects.
In order to see a nearby object, industrious insects use simple eyes. If the operation is excluded facet vision tabbys would be like blind kittens. They would constantly crash into things until they couldn't see things very closely. It is thanks to the vision of compound eyes that a bee is able to cover a wide area around it. The device of the lateral organs of vision helps to orientate perfectly during flights.
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Let's sum it up
Summing up, we can safely say how many eyes a bee has - there are 5 of them. Also, small insects are able to distinguish many more shades than humans. The same is true with plants, some of them for human eye are perceived equally, which cannot be said about bees; they are able to distinguish all flowers. For example, take white flowers. For humans, this is about one color, but bees are able to detect shades. Things are problematic with red flowers. To honey-bearing insects they appear to be completely different in shade.
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To the unusual question about how many eyes a bee has, we immediately answer: “There are only five eyes, 3 simple, and 2 complex, consisting of facets.” Bees have a complex visual system. It unites various organs of the visual apparatus, which are responsible for performing certain functions.
Such organs help bees navigate in space, compensate for insufficient illumination, and allow them to smell flowering at a distance of up to 1 km. They are not only responsible for perceiving the environment, but also perform additional functions. U honey bee- workers on the sides of the head can be found eyes of a complex structure. They are formed by a huge number of special cells. They are called facets. Bees see their environment in the form of a mosaic, which consists of tiny particles. Each facet is responsible for forming its own part of the picture.
Features of the eyes of the queen, drone, worker bee
If we compare visual organs bees different classes, then differences will appear. The worker bee has simple eyes located on the crown of the head. In contrast, in the drone and queen bee such organs are located directly on the forehead. Insects have different numbers of facets (ommatidia). In queen bees their number often reaches 4,000, in worker bees - 5,000, in drones - 9,000.
The compound eyes are clearly visible in drones, since they converge on the crown of the head. In the queen bee and worker bee, it is difficult to distinguish these visual organs at a superficial glance. In all the insects described, simple ocelli have a primitive structure. These are special clear lenses, they protrude significantly from the head. Each of them separately captures images.
If you look closely at compound eyes using a magnifying loupe, you will notice hexagonal embossing on the surface of each organ. Because of this specific embossing, the eyes are often called mesh. Any of the facets is a bundle, which consists of cells that have an elongated shape and a thin border. Between adjacent eyes there are special pigment cells.
The presence of thousands of facets does not provide bees good vision. Regardless of conditions external environment, the image of objects remains insufficiently clear. It is divided into separate points. The special design of the binocular system imposes its own limitations. It has been proven that the eyes of bees are more adapted to the perception of objects that are in motion, in a state of flight. Vision does not cope well with the perception of objects that are motionless and do not change their location.
The visual information that bees perceive through their eyes is instantly converted into nerve impulses. They immediately enter the brain. There, first the analysis takes place, and then the processing of the received information. After generating the response central department nervous system signal transmission to peripheral organs occurs. Insect vision is characterized by three-dimensionality and blurred images.
The location and number of eyes of a bee
Regardless of the class of the insect (worker bee, drone, queen bee), it has five eyes. On the head of any individual are located:
- three small dorsal ocelli (ocelli);
- two eyes big size having a complex structure.
The eyes of the second type are called compound eyes because they are located on the sides of the head, formed from huge amount facets. Such organs of vision have an oblong shape. They are bulges that point downwards.
Compounded eyes are formed from ommatidia - these are structural units. They are densely located, neighboring ommatidia are closely adjacent to each other. Each of these functional units that make up the facet organ has a refractive, insulating and receptive part.
Interestingly, the size of each honey bee eye is on average 2 millimeters. Moreover, the number of eyes remains unchanged for each individual. The visual organs of drones have the most significant area; the second place according to this criterion is occupied by working individuals, and the uterus closes the list.
Why exactly so many eyes?
Hardworking bees initially have a poorly developed visual apparatus. To compensate is not enough developed vision, nature has endowed them with several organs of vision. As many as five eyes allow these insects to navigate their surroundings, receive information about flowering plants, and see various objects. Big eyes help to see objects and form a holistic picture of what is happening around the insect.
The dorsal organs (ocelli) are responsible for twilight vision. They help bees learn about the approach of dawn and the onset of a new day, as well as accurately receive information about its end. Ocelli partially replace the sense of touch; they have a secondary function as part of the binocular system. The facet organs form images in the form of a mosaic, which consists of individual points and helps to obtain a holistic view of objects.
Compounded eyes with a complex structure are used as the main part of the visual apparatus. In contrast, simple eyes are considered a secondary element. They provide bees with objective information about the surrounding space.
Color perception of the world through the eyes of bees
Such insects distinguish many colors and shades. Only they do not perceive the color red, they cannot distinguish it from black. By the way, this is why everything is carried out using , the bees do not see light, which means they worry less. Bees' images of the surrounding world are formed in the ultraviolet spectrum.
Adults perceive shades of white, blue and yellow best. The vision of adults can be called mosaic. When forming an image, their brain does great job. The whole process looks like this:
- Each of thousands of facets perceives only one part of an object, and not the entire object.
- The brain processes incoming images depicting individual parts of an object.
- In the brain, individual parts of an object merge, and as a result, worker bees perceive the whole picture.
Bees do not see much difference between orange, green, light green and yellow colors. Visual apparatus bees have the ability to perceive polarized light. This quality allows insects to calmly navigate in space.
Can bees see in the dark?
Bees see perfectly in complete darkness. They can navigate by the earth's electromagnetic field. There are individuals that prefer to be nocturnal. In the dark, bees not only distinguish flowers, but also accurately determine the road leading home. Visual system These insects are perfectly adapted to low light conditions. Flying in complete darkness does not create problems for bees, who can safely return to their hive in the dead of night.
It is worth noting that worker bees rarely fly in the dark, with rare exceptions. This is caused not only by the need for night rest, but also by a decrease in the strength of the electromagnetic field. This factor contributes to the disruption of spatial orientation in bees, so they generally prefer not to fly at night. Experimentally, it was possible to find out that these insects are able to distinguish the shapes of objects.
What happens if you blind a bee with a bright light?
If a bee flying by is blinded by a flash of bright and directional light, then it will simply fall and lose orientation. Such an experiment will greatly harm the insect, which brings significant benefits. So don't blind the bee. Her visual organs are not able to process light that is too bright and strong. A blinded, stunned worker bee does not immediately recover from exposure to a flash of light. She takes off after a certain time to continue her journey.
Recent studies have established myopia of the facet organs of honey bees. These hard workers clearly see objects that are at close range. The further away an object is, the more difficult it is for bees to see it in detail and form their own idea of it. At a distance exceeding 50 cm, insects notice only those objects that move. Honeybees see best at a distance of a few centimeters.
Both flies and bees have five eyes. Three simple eyes are located in the upper part of the head (one might say, on the crown), and two complex, or facet, eyes are located on the sides of the head. The compound eyes of flies, bees (as well as butterflies, dragonflies and some other insects) are the subject of enthusiastic study by scientists. The fact is that these organs of vision are arranged in a very interesting way. They are made up of thousands of individual hexagons, or, in other words, scientific language, facets. Each of the facets is a miniature peephole that gives an image of a separate part of the object. In complex eyes housefly approximately 4000 facets, in a worker bee - 5000, in a drone - 8000, in a butterfly - up to 17,000, in a dragonfly - up to 30,000. It turns out that the eyes of insects send to their brain several thousand images of individual parts of an object, which, although they merge into the image of the object as a whole, but still this object looks as if it were made of a mosaic.
Why are compound eyes needed? It is believed that with their help insects orient themselves in flight. While simple eyes are designed to look at objects that are nearby. So, if a bee's compound eyes are removed or covered, it behaves as if it were blind. If the simple eyes are sealed, then it seems that the insect has a slow reaction.
1,2
-Compound (compound) eyes of a bee or fly
3
-three simple eyes of a bee or fly
Five eyes allow insects to cover 360 degrees, that is, to see everything that happens in front, on both sides and behind. Maybe that’s why it’s so difficult to get close to a fly unnoticed. And if you consider that compound eyes see a moving object much better than a stationary one, then one can only wonder how a person sometimes manages to swat a fly with a newspaper!
Feature of insects with compound eyes catching even the slightest movement is illustrated in the following example: if bees and flies sit down with people to watch a movie, it will seem to them that two-legged viewers are looking at one frame for a long time before moving on to the next. In order for insects to watch a movie (and not individual frames, like a photo), the projector film needs to be spun 10 times faster.
Should we envy the eyes of insects? Probably not. For example, the eyes of a fly see a lot, but are not capable of looking closely. That's why they discover food (a drop of jam, for example) by crawling across the table and literally bumping into it. And bees, due to the peculiarities of their vision, do not distinguish the color red - for them it is black, gray or blue.
Almost all earthly creatures have vision. This also applies to honey bees. After all, you need to somehow navigate in space in order to collect nectar, pollen. That's what eyes are for. When asked how many eyes a bee has, we answer: “ There are only five of them, 3 are simple, and 2 are complex, which consist of facets».
Complex
If you take a magnifying glass, you can see a mesh surface consisting of thousands of facets (it is believed that there are about 6 thousand of them), that is, tiny hexagons, reminiscent of a honeycomb. It is assumed that with these organs of vision the insect sees any object that has for it the image of a mosaic consisting of many dots.
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With their help, the bee appears possibility of viewing a large space. Therefore, in drones they are large in size. This makes it possible to better navigate environment, and thus find the queens faster when they fly out of the hive to mate.
Bees distinguish between those objects that surround them in nature, with which insects deal all the time. For example, they remember well the shapes of trees, bushes, and flowers from which they collect pollen or nectar. Such visual organs occupy more than half of the bee's head in area. They lack a pupil and a lens, and its surface is covered with a chitinous membrane, thanks to which the organ of vision is protected from external influences.
Approximately, a bee sees 2 times worse than a person. Since the eyes are strictly fixed in one position, during the flight the incoming information about objects, the distance to them, their color scheme, etc. quickly changes.
Everything about this type of eye is clear. But besides them, if you look closely, you can see three more organs of vision, as they are also called simple eyes.
Simple
What role these vision organs play has not yet been precisely established. Although there are a number of theories that they play an auxiliary role in perceiving the intensity of light, signaling the onset of dawn and dusk. In general, they are similar to the principle of operation of a camera.
That is, just as images appear on a photographic plate, they themselves reproduce certain objects that are the result of the action of fairly branched nerve endings. What is characteristic is that individual images in three eyes merge into one, thereby increasing the simultaneous view of space. That is, such panoramic photography.
Compared to other insects, bees have good color vision. The famous Austrian biologist K. Frisch conducted a large number of experiments, the results of which allow us to imagine how insects distinguish color scheme surrounding space. They found that They can best distinguish between objects that are blue, yellow, orange, green, and white. They do not distinguish the color red. Whether it’s gray, whether it’s black, or whether it’s red, they are all the same for insects. They also have a developed ability to respond to polarized light, which is emitted, for example, by the blueness of the sky.
The queen bee, or as she is also called the queen, queen, as well as the worker bee, has five eyes - 2 complex and 3 simple. Drones have the same number of vision organs.
How the process works
Regarding the number of vision organs, many do not know how many pairs of complex or simple eyes an insect has. But we already know that in fact they have 1 pair of complex and 3 simple ones. That is, a honey bee has 5 eyes in total. Simple organs the eyes are located on the crown of the head, and the two complex ones are on both sides of the head, shaped like ovals.
What does it look like to her? the world? It is assumed that, thanks to simple ones, the insect determines how illuminated an object is, and with the help of complex ones, it determines the placement of objects around it, that is, it orients itself in space. Thus, thanks to them, she “remembers” the location of the hive, the road to the sources of bribes, and the color of the flowers. Therefore, it is recommended to paint hives most often in yellow and blue colors, so that the bees can more easily find their way back home with a bribe.