On a selection of five species of higher dipterans (Diptera: Brachycera) we verified the tuning of spectral sensitivity (SS) of photoreceptor classes involved in achromatic and polarization vision with vision signals in the environment. Achromatic vision is based on peripheral photoreceptors (R1–6). Transmittance of screening pigments in red-eyed species (Drosophila melanogaster, Lucilia sericata, Calliphora vicina) is high in the long-range part of the spectrum, which increases the level of photoregeneration of visible pigments. The effect of screening pigments is associated with SS in UV-blue, so the retina is spectrally homogeneous. In the species with darker eyes (Hermetia illucens and Tabanus bromius), ommatidia are better isolated, which enables the diversification of photoreceptor SS and the regionalization of the retina. The peaks of the SS of R1–6 in H. illucens coincide with the peaks of the transmittance of the coloured cornea, which reduces its influence on light perception. SS in R1–6 of T. bromius are tuned with sexually-specific visible motifs. Receptors in the male “love spot” have UV-blue SS R1–6 for high contrast detection of female silhouettes against the sky, females and males outside the “love spot” have UV-green SS R1–6 for the detection of objects on the ground. Central photoreceptors of the ommatidial type "pale" have a high polarization sensitivity (PS) and serve to detect polarized light in UV and blue, while those in the “yellow” type have a low PS and serve colour detection. Polarotaxis of T. bromius depends on the interaction of R1–6 and two types of omatidia.
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