A preliminary comparative study on structure and main characteristics of compound eyes in four Mexican cone borers Conophthorus spp (Coleoptera: Scolytinae)
Adolfo Arturo Del Rio Mora
The compound eyes of four Mexican cone borers: Conophthorus ponderosae Hopkins, C. conicolens Wood, C.michoacanae Wood and C.teocotum Wood were studied and compared by main internal and external structures as are: number of facets, eye length, ventral eye width, dorsal eye width, facet diameter, primary and secondary pigments diameter, ommatidium length and cone length, where this last seem be larger in females than males; It is described the main characteristics of dioptric apparatus and photoreceptor layer. For 2 cone borer species studied. In general all the Conophthorus species showed identically kidney-shaped eyes where the number of ommatidia or facets quantified no differed significantly between species (P= 0.0149) and sex, except for the case of C.teocotum W; the other parameters or characteristics compared are too seem for all species group studied. It was described that the general structures of the dioptric apparatus and photoreceptor layer for C.ponderosae H and C.conicolens W, where were identified the presence of 8 rhabdomeres, confirms the fact that this number of receptors is common in scolitids, which give them the possibility of a UV-sensitive navigation system added to a green sensitive motion detecting their hosts.
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