FLOWERS THROUGH INSECT EYES

A new method of reconstructing the images of flowers as insects may se e them is described. The method is based on the analysis of video reco rdings of flowers made through specially selected filters and a UV-sen sitive camera. The recordings can be made under natural illumination c onditions in the field. To select an appropriate set of filters we ana lyzed more than 1000 reflectance spectra of flowers. To reconstruct th e images we used the results of optical studies of the honeybee eye an d receptor spectral sensitivities of this insect. As an example of the application of the method, we show how the eye of the honeybee resolv es color patterns and the corolla shape of a single flower of Orchis c aspia Trautv.