Evolution of Insect Color Vision: From Spectral Sensitivity to Visual Ecology

Abstract

Color vision is widespread among insects but varies among species, depending on the spectral sensitivities and interplay of the participating photoreceptors. The spectral sensitivity of a photoreceptor is principally determined by the absorption spectrum of the expressed visual pigment, but it can be modified by various optical and electrophysiological factors. For example, screening and filtering pigments, rhabdom waveguide properties, retinal structure, and neural processing all influence the perceived color signal. We review the diversity in compound eye structure, visual pigments, photoreceptor physiology, and visual ecology of insects. Based on an overview of the current information about the spectral sensitivities of insect photoreceptors, covering 221 species in 13 insect orders, we discuss the evolution of color vision and highlight present knowledge gaps and promising future research directions in the field. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology, Volume 66 is January 8, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Coloration of Flowers by Flavonoids and Consequences of pH Dependent Absorption

“…Previous studies demonstrated that regional differences exist in the coloration of P. rhoeas , which can be linked to the color vision of local pollinators, beetles in the Middle East, and bees in Europe ( Dudek et al, 2020 ; Martínez-Harms et al, 2020 ). Also, Mandevilla flowers are pollinated by different groups of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and moths ( De Araújo et al, 2014 ; Rubini Pisano et al, 2019 ), which have different visual systems ( van der Kooi et al, 2021 ). When considering the ultimate question of how flower colors are tuned to the visual system of their pollinators, disentangling the different structural as well as pigmentary aspects that create the flower’s coloration is important.…”

“…As flowers are the advertisement flags for pollinators, the spectral properties of the floral pigments are presumably tuned to optimize visibility. In comparison, the photoreceptor spectral sensitivities of the color vision systems of bees and birds are highly constrained to virtually fixed spectral values ( Hart and Vorobyev, 2005 ; van der Kooi et al, 2021 ). Plants thus have evolved a much greater flexibility in tuning the display of their flowers than the flexibility their pollinators have in adjusting their color discrimination system.…”

Inbreeding in a dioecious plant has sex- and population origin-specific effects on its interactions with pollinators

“…The seemingly low importance of inbreeding effects on spatial flower traits for pollinator visitation rates may be explained with the limited visual system of nocturnal insects ( van der Kooi et al, 2021 ; Sondhi et al, 2021 ). Moths can likely perceive differences in the spatial arrangement of flowers on inbred versus outbred plants only when they have already approached close to them ( Barnett et al, 2018 ).…”

Foraging Small White Butterflies, Pieris rapae, Search Flowers Using Color Vision

“…Recent studies on butterfly eyes have revealed much more diversity in this respect (van der Kooi et al, 2021). The Japanese yellow swallowtail, Papilio xuthus, has six classes (UV, violet, blue, green, red, broadband) of receptors (Arikawa, 2003), four of which serve in the UV-B-G-R tetrachromatic vision (Koshitaka et al, 2008).…”