The
compound eyes of
arthropods like
insects,
crustaceans and
millipedes are composed of units called
ommatidia (singular:
ommatidium). An ommatidium contains a cluster of
photoreceptor cells surrounded by support cells and pigment cells. The outer part of the ommatidium is overlaid with a transparent
cornea. Each ommatidium is innervated by one axon bundle (usually consisting of 6-9
axons, depending on the number of rhabdomeres) and provides the
brain with one
picture element. The brain forms an image from these independent picture elements. The number of ommatidia in the eye depends upon the type of insect and ranges from just a handful in the primitive
Archaeognatha and
Thysanura to around 30 thousand in larger
Anisoptera dragonflies and in some
Sphingidae moths.