Moth Eyes

A moth's eyes cover most of its head. They are called compound eyes. Another name for a compound eye is ommatidia. Compound eyes contain thousands of tiny lenses. Each lens sees only a little bit of the whole picture. Moths are able to detect movement and shapes with the lenses on the compound eye. The compound eye has a clear surface which lets in light. Moths also have three simple eyes in addition to the compound eyes. The simple eyes are called ocelli.