I have been looking everywhere to find out if maggots are colour sensitive. I know that they are sensitive to light and smell; also, that flies can see colour. I am planning an experiment and need to know if introducing the variable colour will produce any quantative results?
I assume you are referring to fly larvae? They are only able to distinguish between light and dark. They have only one type of photoreceptors IIRC and are therefore not able to distinguish between colors. In fact they are not even able to pinpoint the location of the light merely with their eyes, but they have to correlate it with the movement on their heads. If you watch them moving, you will see, that they make pendulum-like movements. And depending on their development stage they will do positive or negative phototaxis in synch with the movements.
Hmmmm, I’m not sure that’s correct. Drosophila larvae have simple eyes that express various rhodopsin pigments (implicated in color vision) in the photoreceptor cells. Researchers talk about blue- and green-sensitive larval photoreceptors in Drosophila larvae based on their expression of relevant rhodopsins. I don't know if larval PR rhodopsin expression results in a functional ability to detect color. :shrug: Why do you need to know in advance? Why not perform your own quantitative experiments to empirically determine if larvae can detect color? That would be a great piece of science! :thumbsup: Perhaps you could tell us your planned methodology.....
Hmm good point. I was only recalling a course in which we did phototaxis. And in my memory the sensory capabilities were very limited. But admittedly that was almost a decade ago, and I should have added that caveat. Hercules, you are correct and I retract my earlier statement. They should be able to distinguish some wavelength at least (whether they react is, of course, a different point).
