The huge compound eyes of a Southern Hawker Dragonfly~ Aeschna cynea~

Compound eyes.

The huge eyes of this Southern Hawker Dragonfly, Aeschna cynea, are an excellent example of compound eyes. The dragonfly family, one of the oldest groups of insects, have evolved eyes that allow precision flying with high speed and agility. These voracious hunters can snatch prey from the air using the images from over 30,000 lenses, called ommatidia, that make up the compound eyes. They have colour vision and almost 360 degree coverage. Quite how this massive amount of information is processed and used to control flight paths, hunting and attacks on competitors is still largely unresolved but research suggests that the brain cells are capable of selective attention, a very advanced capability. The dark spots, called pseudopupils, are an optical illusion. The way that light reflects within the eye produces a dark area when that part is directly in line with the viewers eyes.