compound eyes

Fly's visual organs

Compound eyes are the large, multifaceted eyes found on insects, crustaceans, and some other arthropods.

Unlike human eyes with a single lens, compound eyes consist of thousands of tiny visual units called ommatidia, each capturing a small portion of the visual field.

This structure excels at detecting movement and provides nearly panoramic vision, though with lower resolution than vertebrate eyes: The fly's compound eyes spotted the swatter from almost any angle.

anatomy

facet

Plane on cut stone

cornea · optic nerve · cuticle · ocelli

arthropod

insect

Six-legged invertebrate

bee · mantis · crab · horseshoe crab · trilobite · butterfly · beetle · shrimp · lobster · spider

optics

refraction

Wave bending between media

resolution · field of view · sensitivity · focal length · diffraction · interference · aperture

mosaic

pixelated

Composed of visible squares

fragmented · composite image · honeycomb pattern

vision

motion detection

Identifying displacement automatically

visual acuity · depth perception · wide-angle · flight navigation

Categories
Opposites
eye structure/optical system

compound eyesocelli

Simple photoreceptor organs

evolutionary lineage/taxon

compound eyesfish eyes

Distrustful sideways glances

Family

eyes, compound, eyeball, eyesight, eyelid, eyewitness, compounded, compounding, eyepiece

Familiarity
Top 200,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G