Undergraduate Research at FIU (URFIU) Conference

Eye Size in Drosophila Melanogaster and How It Affects Peripheral Motion Vision

GC Ballrooms

Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, is a holometabolous insect that requires a set amount of nutrients to induce metamorphosis; this specific point is called the critical weight. Once the critical weight is achieved, any further nutrients consumed during the larval stage are used to increase the size of the fly in the adult stage (Mirth, Truman, & Riddiford, 2005). One point to note is that as the body size of the fly increases, the size of the eyes that it can support also increases. As the size of the eyes increase, the number of ommatidia within the eyes increases, as well, allowing for more spatial acuity. The increase in spatial acuity can be seen in the frontal regions of the fruit fly’s eye; however, it raises the question of how larger eyes and more ommatidia affect the peripheral vision. In many other insects, the peripheries of the eyes are used for temporal acuity, or to perceive motion. The hypothesis is that as the fruit flies’ eyes become larger, their temporal acuity will increase.