Dragonflies have extraordinary color vision
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028661
New Scientist : Dragonflies apparently surpass all other known animal species in the ability to see color. Whereas the vision of most mammals, birds, and insects is di-, tri,- or tetrachromatic—humans, for example, see colors as a combination of red, green, and blue—dragonflies can detect as many as 30 different vision pigments. Ryo Futahashi of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan, and colleagues have also found that the number of opsins, or light-sensitive proteins, can vary over the course of an individual dragonfly’s development, from larva to adult. The extra opsins may also allow dragonflies to see UV and polarized light.