External Design and Field of View of the Compound Eyes in a Raptorial Neuropteran Insect, Mantispa Styriaca

Abstract

Visual fields and ommatidial angles of the compound eyes of Mantispa styriaca were determined using luminous pseudopupil and histological-anatomical techniques. The maximal horizontal overlap averaged 42.7° in femalesand 52.4° in males; females had only one overlap maximum, whereas males had two. In the dorsoventral direction, the binocular field had an overlap of 135.2° in the female and 142° in the male. In light-adapted eyes, optical acceptance angles reached values of 2.0°, and they reached 3.6° with dark adaptation; interommatidial angles were between 1.8° and 2.3°. The angles were very similar over the entire eye; no acute zone was found in the frontal part of the eye, as the large binocular overlap would suggest. The results are compared with those for the praying mantis: this animal is in no way related to Mantispa but resembles it in appearance and capture behaviour.