Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus)

Containing taxa: Animalia » Arthropoda » Pancrustacea » Insecta » Endopterygota » Lepidoptera » Papilionoidea » Nymphalidae

Photoreceptors:
Receptor Opsin λmax Filter λmax Filter λ50% Recep. λmax
Red Receptor550nm500nm577nm586nm
Green receptor550nm  550nm
Blue receptor470nm  470nm
UV receptor360nm  359nm


Opponent processes:
Description (+) Terminus (-) Terminus Mode
Luminance
Green receptor
Red Receptor
  Photopic
Red Receptor - Green receptor
591nm - 556nm - 527nm
 
Red Receptor Green receptor Photopic
Yellow-Blue
582nm - 521nm - 466nm
 
Green receptor
Red Receptor
Blue receptor Photopic
Yellow-UV
582nm - 425nm - 358nm
 
Green receptor
Red Receptor
UV receptor Photopic

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Notes and References:

Although a screening pigment and red-inclusive terachromacy are not specifically known for this species, they are known for the related D. plexippus and many other species in the same family. It is most likely that the queen butterfly is also red-sensitive and tetrachromatic, in absence of evidence to the contrary.

Briscoe, A. D. & Chittka, L. (2001) The Evolution of Color Vision in Insects. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 2001. 46:471-510

Warrant E.J., Nilsson D.-E. (1998) Absorption of White Light in Photoreceptors. Vision Res., Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 195-207. PII: S0042-6989(97)00151-X

Stavenga D., Smits R.P., Hoenders B.J. (1993) Simple Exponential Functions Describing the Absorbance Bands of Visual Pigment Spectra. Vision Res. 33(8) pp. 1011-1017. doi:10.1016/0042-6989(93)90237-Q



Note: Many species may have gaps in available data, which may be filled in with extrapolations from closely related species. The AVIAN website is copyright © 2011-2024 J. Gagnon. All rights reserved unless otherwise specified.