noun
- the individual optical units that make up the compound eyes of insects and crustaceans
Usage: biology; plural form
Examples
- The dragonfly’s compound eyes contain thousands of ommatidia.
- Each of the ommatidia functions as a separate photoreceptor unit.
- Scientists studied the structure of ommatidia under a microscope.
- The number of ommatidia varies greatly among different insect species.
- Damage to individual ommatidia can affect an insect’s vision.
- The hexagonal arrangement of ommatidia creates the compound eye’s distinctive appearance.