Evolution of Peripheral Visual System in the Apoidea: A Role for Food Item Mobility?

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Autori principali: Chiara Francesca Trisoglio, Andrea Ferrari, Matteo Brilli, Michele Zilioli, Carlo Polidori
Natura: Artículo Open Access
Pubblicazione: Wiley 2026
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author Chiara Francesca Trisoglio
Andrea Ferrari
Matteo Brilli
Michele Zilioli
Carlo Polidori
author_facet Chiara Francesca Trisoglio
Andrea Ferrari
Matteo Brilli
Michele Zilioli
Carlo Polidori
Chiara Francesca Trisoglio
Andrea Ferrari
Matteo Brilli
Michele Zilioli
Carlo Polidori
collection Wiley Open Access
contents Evolution of Peripheral Visual System in the Apoidea: A Role for Food Item Mobility? Chiara Francesca Trisoglio Andrea Ferrari Matteo Brilli Michele Zilioli Carlo Polidori Ecology and Evolution ABSTRACT The morphology of insect visual system was often linked with resource type and resource‐finding strategies. Since larger compound eyes and ocelli altogether improve image resolution, capturing light and motion perception, one may expect that insects specialised in chasing very mobile resources possess such morphological optimisation. We tested this hypothesis in females of Apoidea (Hymenoptera), which include bees (which just land on flowers to collect pollen), wasps hunting for weakly mobile prey that are not chased in flight (e.g., beetles, aphids) ( LM r‐species) and wasps which prey upon highly‐mobile flying prey (e.g., flies, bees) ( HM r‐species). By analysing 77 species, we have found that, once taken into account the head width, HM r‐ and LM r‐wasps did not differ in eye size, but had larger eyes than bees. Median ocellus diameter, on the other hand, did not differ between bees and wasps, though HM r‐wasps had larger ocelli than LM r‐wasps. The observed variations were largely dependent on head width, with the eye enlargement being faster in wasps than in bees as the head size increased. Phylogenetically‐corrected models highlighted a strong effect of common ancestry on morphological variation but confirmed the significant effect of food mobility for the relative eye size. Ancestral state reconstructions suggested a shift to relatively smaller eyes in correspondence with the shift to pollen provisioning, while things seemed to be more complex with the relative ocellar size, likely because of the negative allometry of this trait, especially strong in bees. We may conclude that the need to hunt rapidly moving prey in flight has likely contributed to the evolution of the visual system in Apoidea. 10.1002/ece3.73608 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
doi_str_mv 10.1002/ece3.73608
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id wiley_oa_10_1002_ece3_73608
institution Wiley Open Access
license_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
publishDate 2026
publisher Wiley
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spellingShingle Evolution of Peripheral Visual System in the Apoidea: A Role for Food Item Mobility?
Chiara Francesca Trisoglio
Andrea Ferrari
Matteo Brilli
Michele Zilioli
Carlo Polidori
Ecology and Evolution
Evolution of Peripheral Visual System in the Apoidea: A Role for Food Item Mobility? Chiara Francesca Trisoglio Andrea Ferrari Matteo Brilli Michele Zilioli Carlo Polidori Ecology and Evolution ABSTRACT The morphology of insect visual system was often linked with resource type and resource‐finding strategies. Since larger compound eyes and ocelli altogether improve image resolution, capturing light and motion perception, one may expect that insects specialised in chasing very mobile resources possess such morphological optimisation. We tested this hypothesis in females of Apoidea (Hymenoptera), which include bees (which just land on flowers to collect pollen), wasps hunting for weakly mobile prey that are not chased in flight (e.g., beetles, aphids) ( LM r‐species) and wasps which prey upon highly‐mobile flying prey (e.g., flies, bees) ( HM r‐species). By analysing 77 species, we have found that, once taken into account the head width, HM r‐ and LM r‐wasps did not differ in eye size, but had larger eyes than bees. Median ocellus diameter, on the other hand, did not differ between bees and wasps, though HM r‐wasps had larger ocelli than LM r‐wasps. The observed variations were largely dependent on head width, with the eye enlargement being faster in wasps than in bees as the head size increased. Phylogenetically‐corrected models highlighted a strong effect of common ancestry on morphological variation but confirmed the significant effect of food mobility for the relative eye size. Ancestral state reconstructions suggested a shift to relatively smaller eyes in correspondence with the shift to pollen provisioning, while things seemed to be more complex with the relative ocellar size, likely because of the negative allometry of this trait, especially strong in bees. We may conclude that the need to hunt rapidly moving prey in flight has likely contributed to the evolution of the visual system in Apoidea. 10.1002/ece3.73608 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Evolution of Peripheral Visual System in the Apoidea: A Role for Food Item Mobility?
topic Ecology and Evolution
url https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.73608