@flypapers Above, a mind-blowing finding: vinegar flies #Drosophila can move their eyes.

Perhaps it shouldn't surprise us, given that a number of fellow arthropods can do so too. Most spectacularly, jumping #spiders–who are voracious and highly effective hunters–move their eyes too. See the fabulously titled paper "Eight-legged cats and how they see" [1], which reads:

"Six muscles attached to the outside of each principal eye tube allow the same three degrees of freedom (horizontal, vertical, and rotation) as in each of our own eyes (Land 1969b). Using these muscles, the salticid sweeps the two eyes’ fields of view in complex patterns over the scene coming into the eye from the telephoto lens system."

"Eye-tube movement enables the salticid to sample from the larger image projected by the corneal lens, and patterns of movement can be complex. This suggests that eye-tube movement patterns are intimately involved in how #salticids process visual information, serving as critical steps in the perception of shape and form (Land 1969b)."

The flies can't move their eyes as much, and compensate by moving their heads too. But its' remarkable that they can do it at all.

[1] 'Eight-legged cats' and how they see - A review of recent research on jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)
Duane P Harland and Robert R. Jackson, 2000
Cimbebasia 16: 231-240 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238671399_'Eight-legged_cats'_and_how_they_see_-_A_review_of_recent_research_on_jumping_spiders_Araneae_Salticidae

#entomology #arthropods #spider #science #vision