Data from: Bumblebee visual allometry results in locally improved resolution and globally improved sensitivity

The quality of visual information that is available to an animal is limited by the size of its eyes. Differences in eye size can be observed even between closely related individuals, yet we understand little about how this affects vision. Insects are good models for exploring the effects of size on visual systems because many insect species exhibit size polymorphism. Previous work has been limited by difficulties in determining the 3D structure of eyes. We have developed a novel method based on x-ray microtomography to measure the 3D structure of insect eyes and to calculate predictions of their visual capabilities. We used our method to investigate visual allometry in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris and found that size affects specific aspects of vision, including binocular overlap, optical sensitivity, and dorsofrontal visual resolution. This reveals that differential scaling between eye areas provides flexibility that improves the visual capabilities of larger bumblebees.

动物所能获取的视觉信息质量，受制于其眼部尺寸。即便亲缘关系较近的个体之间，也存在眼部尺寸的差异，但目前我们对这类差异如何影响视觉功能仍知之甚少。昆虫是探究尺寸对视觉系统影响的理想模型，因为多数昆虫物种存在尺寸多态性。此前的相关研究受限于难以精准测定眼部的三维结构。我们开发了一种基于X射线显微断层扫描（X-ray microtomography）的全新方法，可用于测定昆虫眼部的三维结构，并推算其视觉功能的预测参数。我们利用该方法对地熊蜂（Bombus terrestris）的视觉异速生长展开研究，结果发现眼部尺寸会对视觉的特定维度产生影响，涵盖双眼重叠视野、光学灵敏度以及背额视觉分辨率。该研究揭示，眼部不同区域的差异化缩放模式，为体型更大的熊蜂提供了视觉功能的优化空间，进而提升其整体视觉能力。