Which Ants Are Completely Blind?
WouterUnlike humans, most ants are completely blind. But there are a few species that are completely sighted. Some of these species, including the carpenter ant, have eyes that are designed for night vision.
Some ants are even able to see ultraviolet light. This is important for workers, who need vision to see the ground and locate food and other landmarks.
The ant’s visual system has been studied by many different species. They have three photoreceptors that are sensitive to light. This sensitivity is important for ants to gather information to forage for food and find their nests.
However, these photoreceptors are too small for ants to see detailed images. The ants’ eyes are made up of a number of tiny lenses, called ommatidia. Each ommatidia focuses on a specific point of an image. The overall image that is perceived by the ant is a mosaic of input from numerous ommatidia. The ommatidia are also responsible for detecting polarization and light levels.
Unlike humans, the ants do not have a lens to focus on a single image. Instead, each unit of the compound eye is responsible for forming an image. This is similar to a digital camera with a low pixel resolution. This translates to low resolution and poor spatial acuity.
Ants have a compound eye, which is a complex array of numerous photoreceptor units. This allows them to see colour, motion, and polarisation. These ant eyes are also equipped with a special system for communication. This system allows ants to detect the presence of other ants and to warn of predators.
