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Science 16 March 1979:
Vol. 203. no. 4385, pp. 1125 - 1127
DOI: 10.1126/science.203.4385.1125
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Articles

Red-Absorbing Visual Pigment of Butterflies

GARY D. BERNARD 1

1 Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06510

Noninvasive photochemical and physiological experiments with intact butterflies of 17 species showed that nine species have a rhodopsin absorbing maximally at 610 nanometers, contained in retinular cells that are maximally sensitive at 610 nanometers. This is the longest-wavelength visual pigment known for an invertebrate. Eight species of butterflies lack the 610-nanometers rhodopsin. All species possess a rhodopsin absorbing maximally in the green region of the spectrum.

Submitted on July 11, 1978
Revised on October 24, 1978


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