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Why exactly are the reflections of sunlight in this dragonfly's eye hexagonal?

Biology Asked on June 10, 2021

I photographed a rather cooperative, large dragonfly today and after getting back to my desk and looking closer at the images I realized that the reflection of the Sun in its eyes produced large hexagonal bright spots that are:

  1. much larger/wider than if the eye surface were smooth specular reflector
  2. relatively uniform in brightness all the way to the edge
  3. have very sharp edges, transition from bright to dull red is very abrupt.

I’m aware that the components of compound eyes are usually at least roughly hexagonally packed, but what is happening here is something more than that.

What is it about a dragonfly’s compound eye that can account for all three of these characteristics of reflected sunlight?

Presumably this is the same red dragonfly species as is seen in Identify these two large, colorful dragonflies in Taiwan? It’s the same area and time of year.

red dragonfly with hexagonal spots in its eyes

Two more taken at different angles relative to the Sun. (click for larger)

red dragonfly with hexagonal spots in its eyes red dragonfly with hexagonal spots in its eyes

One Answer

Here is the image in comments. The direction of the sun can be seen from the shadow of the left antenna. I just sketched this image to note some observations, it's the best answer that I can find at this time.

enter image description here

enter image description here source

Answered by DeltaEnfieldWaid on June 10, 2021

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