Insect vision function was formed 500 million years ago

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua Zhang Mengran) According to a new study published recently in the Scientific Report of Natural Science Research, German scientists used digital microscopic technology to "see through" the eyes of a 429 million-year-old trilete fossil and found that its internal structure is almost identical to that of modern insect eyes. The results suggest that the visual principles of the eyes of many modern insects and crustaceans are at least 500 million years old. It also provides new clues to human understanding of ancient life.
If the field of ancient life research, triletes are the most representative animals that emerged during the Cambic period - they have existed on Earth for more than 320 million years before and after, they have a very strong life, and over a long period of time, their evolution has been so complex that their life structure is crucial to human clues to biological evolution.
is also the first creature to have a clear definition of the eye. Brigitte Schulnemann and Euan Karaksen, researchers at the University of Cologne in Germany, used the latest digital microscopic technology to retest a fossil of a triloyte (called "A. koninckii") found in the Czech Republic in 1846. The fossil is 1mm to 2mm high and has two raised semi-elliptical eyes on the back of the head, one of which has ruptured.
researchers report that they found that some of the internal structures of the tricyte's eyes were similar to those of many modern insects and crustaceans, including their vision unit called "small eyes" (35 microns in diameter), which contains sensory cells that gather around the transparent tube beam of the sense rod beam.
researchers believe that the dark rings that surround each visual unit are made up of pigment cells that act as a barrier between the visual units. Each visual unit has a thick lens on the surface, and the rest of the researchers believe it is a flat taper through which light passes first and then focuses on the rod beam.
small visual unit suggests that the "A. koninckii" trilete once lived in bright shallow waters and may be more active during the day because smaller-diameter crystals are more efficient at capturing light in bright environments. There is a pigment cell barrier between the visual units, indicating that the trilete once had mosaic vision, and each visual unit contributes a small portion of the overall picture, similar to the complex eyes of many modern insects and crustaceans.
the results suggest that the structure and function of many complex eyes have changed little since the Paleoanthres (542 million to 252 million years ago), providing new knowledge of the ancient life of triletes.