noun
- one of the individual visual units that make up the compound eye of an arthropod
Usage: biology; entomology
Examples
- Each ommatidium in a dragonfly’s eye contains its own lens and photoreceptors.
- The compound eye of a honeybee consists of thousands of ommatidia.
- Scientists studied the structure of individual ommatidia under a microscope.
- An ommatidium functions like a tiny independent eye within the larger compound eye.
- The number of ommatidia varies greatly among different insect species.
- Each ommatidium captures light from a slightly different angle, creating a mosaic image.