Die Spektralsensitivität von Insekten-Komplexaugen im Ultraviolett bis 290 mμ

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Abstract
Behaviour experiments have shown that insects react to ultraviolet light. Almost no data are available within this spectral range, however, on the sensitivity of their light sense organs. In this investigation the relative spectral sensitivity (1/Q) of the compound eye of the fly, Calliphora erythrocephala, and various areas of the compound eye of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, was measured including the ultraviolet range down to 290 mμ. Equal amplitudes of the electroretinogram indicated equal efficiencies of the stimuli. The sensitivity curve in both species shows, besides the known maximum in the blue green, a second maximum in the ultraviolet. This second maximum was found between 341-369 mμ depending on the species and the particular area of the eye. At still shorter wave lengths sensitivity decreases. In the fly eye and the upper part of the cockroach eye the sensitivity maximum in the ultraviolet is higher than in the bluegreen, whereas in the ventral part of the cockroch eye it is lower. Monochromatic light adaptation selectively influences the relative sensitivity of the upper part of the cockroach eye. The sensitivity curves are discussed with regard to visual pigments and types of receptors. Fluorescence of the eye media is considered to have only negligible if any influence on the high sensitivity for ultraviolet light.

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