Question

The compound eye of an insect

• A. Forms coloured images
• B. Detects only the intensity and direction of light
• C. Detects only infrared light
• D. Forms only black and white images

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

Simple light sensitive structures having bowl shaped light sensitive cells are known as eye spots and enable the flatworms and cnidarians to detect the direction and intensity of light. Presence of lens which concentrates light on photoreceptor cells enables insects not only to detect direction and intensity of light but also to form images. This makes option B incorrect. Option C is incorrect as light sensitive receptors of compound eye of insects, ocelli and stemmata, are sensitive to light rays ranging from UV (350 nm) to red light (700 nm). Ability of light receptors to detect broad light range makes them enable to form coloured images. This makes option A correct and option D incorrect.