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ABSTRACT The kidney-shaped compound eyes of adult tadpole shrimps of the genera Triops and Lepidurus are composed of about 310 and 170 ommatidia, respectively. Each ommatidium has a flattened cuticle on top, and is made of 4 cone cells that form a crystalline cone of the eucone type, 2 corneagenous cells and 8 retinula cells which form a fused rhabdom. Among the retinula cells, 6 are arranged in 3 mirror symmetrical pairs (referred to as R1/R6, R2/R5, R3/R4) on either side of the axis of the ommatidial cross section, while 2 unpaired cells (referred to as R7 and R8) are positioned one behind the other along the axis. The rhabdomere of R7 sits on top of the rhabdom, and is replaced by that of R8 more proximally. In its distal region, the rhabdom is formed like a π in Triops and is of a triangular shape in Lepidurus. The structure of the dioptric apparatus, the retinula and conecell patterns, the orientation of the rhabdomeric microvilli, the array of the ommatidia, and the arrangement of the ommatidia main axes are discussed with regard to the compound eyes of other arthropods.