How does the Indian wanderer see?
The Indian wanderer (Pareronia ceylanica) is a insect in the order Lepidoptera. Its eyes belong to the vision type Butterfly multispectral.
Measured in this species: motion (flicker fusion). One measured dial: a value other than colour or sharpness is measured in this species; colour and sharpness are not measured here. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has 11 colour receptor classes, including ultraviolet; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 0.51 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 113.2 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks about 1.9 times slower to it.[9][10]
- Activity pattern: diurnal.
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 11 receptor classes: 361 nm (UVS), 413 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 413 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 453 nm (SWS (blue)), 458.5 nm (SWS (blue)), 520 nm (MWS (green)), 558 nm (LWS (long)), 560 nm (LWS (long)), 620 nm (LWS (long)), 651 nm (LWS (long)), 662 nm (LWS (long)) receptor set of nearest measured relative Colias erate (same family Pieridae) | Estimated | [1][2][3] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Estimated | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 0.51 cycles per degree median of 3 relatives in family Pieridae: Colias eurytheme, Pieris brassicae, Appias lyncida | Estimated | [4][5] |
| Angle between facets 1.26° median of 2 relatives in family Pieridae: Colias eurytheme, Pieris brassicae | Estimated | [4] | |
| Eye type compound eye | |||
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 0 median of 91 relatives in class Insecta: Empis prodromus, Rhamphomyia albidiventris, Rhamphomyia breviventris, Rhamphomyia maculipennis, Rhamphomyia marginata, Rhamphomyia murina | Group default | [6] |
| Fovea type none | Group default | [6] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern diurnal mode of 8 relatives in family Pieridae: Anthocharis cardamines, Colias croceus, Phoebis sennae, Colias erate, Gonepteryx aspasia, Pieris brassicae | Estimated | [3][7] |
| Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Estimated | [3][7] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 113.2 Hz median of 1 rows (no bright-light flag) (behavioural/whole-eye ERG rows; all rows: [113.25]) | Measured | [8] |
Related animals
- Asian swallowtail same vision type
- Coffee bee hawkmoth same vision type
- Common bluebottle butterfly same vision type
- Common eggfly same vision type
- Common evening brown same vision type
- Monarch butterfly same vision type
More insects: all insects with measured vision data.
Sources
- Pirih P, Arikawa K, Stavenga D 2010. An expanded set of photoreceptors in the Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow butterfly, Colias erate. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. doi.org/10.1007/s00359-010-0538-0
- van der Kooi CJ, Stavenga DG, Arikawa K, Belusic G, Kelber A. 2021. Evolution of insect color vision: from spectral sensitivity to visual ecology. Annu Rev Entomol 66:435-461. Supplementary table. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-061720-071644
- Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
- Caves EM, Brandley NC, Johnsen S (2018) Visual acuity and the evolution of signals. Trends Ecol Evol 33:358-372. Supplementary Tables S1-S3.. doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2018.03.001
- Feller KD, Sharkey CR, McDuffee-Altekruse A, Bracken-Grissom HD, Lord NP, Porter ML, Schweikert LE 2021. Surf and turf vision: patterns and predictors of visual acuity in compound eye evolution. Arthropod Structure & Development 60:101002. doi.org/10.1016/j.asd.2020.101002
- Comparative data for dance fly eye morphology and female ornamentation (Empididae). Data: Dryad doi:10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxd5z. doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxd5z
- Sondhi Y, Ellis EA, Bybee SM, Theobald JC, Kawahara AY. 2021. Light environment drives evolution of color vision genes in butterflies and moths. Commun Biol 4:177
- Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?