Psychophysics of the hoverfly: categorical or continuous color discrimination?  

作　　者：Lea Hannah Adrian G. Dyer Jair E. Garcia Alan Dorin Martin Burd 

机构地区：[1]School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia [2]Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Richmond, New South Wales 2753, Australia [3]School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia [4]Department of Physiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia [5]Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2019年第4期483-492,共10页动物学报（英文版）

摘　　要：There is increasing interest in flies as potentially important pollinators. Flies are known to have a complex visual system, in eluding 4 spectral classes of photoreceptors that con tribute to the perception of color. Our current understanding of how color signals are perceived by flies is based on data for the blowfly Lucilia sp., which after being conditi oned to rewarded mono chromatic light stimuli, showed evidenee of a categorical color visual system. The resulting opponent fly color space has 4 distinct categories, and has been used to interpret how some fly pollinators may perceive flower colors. However, formal proof that flower flies (Syrphidae) only use a simple, categorical color process remains outstanding. In free-flying experiments, we tested the hoverfly Eristalis tenax, a Batesian mimic of the honeybee, that receives its nutrition by visiting flowers. Using a range of broadband similar-dissimilar color stimuli previously used to test color perception in pollinating hymenopteran species, we evaluated if there are steep changes in behavioral choices with continuously increasing color differences as might be expected by categorical color processing. Our data revealed that color choices by the hoverfly are mediated by a continuous monotonic function. Thus, these flies did not use a categorical processing, but showed evidenee of a color discrimination function similar to that observed in several bee species. We therefore empirically provide data for the minimum color distanee that can be discriminated by hoverflies in fly color space, enabling an improved un derstandi ng of plant-poll in ator interactions with a non-model insect species.

关 键 词：chromatic signal COLOR model FLORAL COLOR fly pollination plant-pollinator vision 

分 类 号：Q[生物学]