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Scanning behavior by larvae of the predacious diving beetle, Thermonectus marmoratus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) enlarges visual field prior to prey capture

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Abstract

Larvae of the predaceous diving beetle Thermonectus marmoratus bear six stemmata on each side of their head, two of which form relatively long tubes with linear retinas at their proximal ends. The physical organization of these eyes results in extremely narrow visual fields that extend only laterally in the horizontal body plane. There are other examples of animals possessing eyes with predominantly linear retinas, or with linear arrangements of specific receptor types. In these animals, the eyes, or parts of the eyes, are movable and perform scanning movements to increase the visual field. Based on anatomical data and observations of relatively transparent, immobilized young larvae, we report here that T. marmoratus larvae are incapable of moving their eyes or any part of their eyes within the head capsule. However, they do perform a series of bodily dorso-ventral pivots prior to prey capture, behaviorally extending the vertical visual field from 2° to up to 50°. Frame-by-frame analysis shows that such behavior is performed within a characteristic distance to the prey. These data provide first insights into the function of the very peculiar anatomical eye organization of T. marmoratus larvae.

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Abbreviations

E1:

Eye one

E2:

Eye two

E3:

Eye three

E4:

Eye four

E5:

Eye five

E6:

Eye six

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs John Layne, Birgit Ehmer and Ilya Vilinsky for helpful discussions and comments on the manuscript, Karunyakanth Mandapaka and Heather Hoy for technical assistance, and Phillip Ross for his help in the behavioral analysis. This work has been supported by NSF (IOB-0545978).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0006, USA

    Elke K. Buschbeck & Sarah J. Sbita

  2. Insectarium, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, 3400 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45220-1399, USA

    Randy C. Morgan

Authors
  1. Elke K. Buschbeck
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  2. Sarah J. Sbita
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  3. Randy C. Morgan
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Correspondence to Elke K. Buschbeck.

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Buschbeck, E.K., Sbita, S.J. & Morgan, R.C. Scanning behavior by larvae of the predacious diving beetle, Thermonectus marmoratus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) enlarges visual field prior to prey capture. J Comp Physiol A 193, 973–982 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-007-0250-x

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