Reptile Lamp Database

Colorimetry is the science to describe physically the human color perception. The wavelength range 380 nm - 780 nm is visible to humans and detected by three different photoreceptors. Many Reptiles see the range 350 nm - 800 nm and have an additional UV photoreceptor in their retina.

WARNING: The measurement range (350 - 800 nm) is not sufficient for this evaluation! Data is only available in the range 270.05 - 750.92 nm. Results are shown anyway but should be ignored by anyone except experts.

Whereas a spectrometer measures the intensity in every tiny wavelength interval resulting in thousands of individual intensities, the human eye only measures three intensities detected by the three cones. The same is true for the reptile eye with usually three or four photoreceptors. Effectively the detailled spectrum displayed above reduces to a much compacter bar graph displayed below. The photoreceptor sensitivites from these L-Cone, M-Cone, S-Cone, and U-Cone are used, they are chosen as an average of measured reptile photoreceptor sensitivity curves. The bar graph also shows as reference the intensity seen by the three or four photoreceptors for average sunlight (id 1).

From these three numbers the colour coordinate and the correlated colour temperature for humans are calculated using the CIE standard method. I adapted this concept to a "3 cone reptile (M,S,U)" and a "4 cone reptile (L,M,S,U)". I am sure, that this adaption to other colour spaces makes sense mathematically and this is also done in scientific research regarding colour vision of animals, however I have not seen calculation of colour temperatures for other animals in the scientific literature. Even if it is hypothetical, at least this shows, how arbitrary the colour temperature is, and that the colour temperature calculated for humans does not apply to reptiles. The colour spaces also show the colour coordinates of different phases of daylight ((ids 1, 338 – 451, 511 – 513 ), indicated by crosses, coloured in the appriximate colour perceived by a human.

	Human (CIE)	3 cone reptile	4 cone reptile
Cone Excitation
Colour Coordinate	( 0.38 ; 0.39 )	( 0.35 ; 0.34 )	( 0.35 ; 0.22 ; 0.22 )
CCT	4200 Kelvin	6100 Kelvin	4300 Kelvin
distance		0.0057	0.064
colour space			3-D-graph not implemented yet

Vitamin D3 is produced by UVB radiation around 300 nm. 7DHC/ProD3 present in the skin is converted to PreD3 when absorbing an UV photon. PreD3 can be converted back to ProD3, to Lumisterol, or to Tachysterol when absorbing another UV photon or can be converted to Vitamin D3 in a warm environment.

This process prevents any overdose of vitamin D3 from UV radiation with a spectrum similar to sunlight. As a comparison the solar spectra at 20°(id:14) and at 85°(id:21) solar angle are shown.

The ratio of the two solarmeters 6.2 (UVB) and 6.5 (UV index) readings has proven a useful and very simply number to acess the spectral shape in the vitamin-d3-active region.

Effective irradiances are calculated for all ranges, actionspectra and radiometers currently present in this database.

The calculation method is a numerical implementation (Simpson's rule) of the formula

To learn more about calculating effective irradiances and radiometers I recommend this excellent report on UVB meters: Characterizing the Performance of Integral Measuring UV-Meters (pdf).

total ( 0 nm - 0 nm)	20400 µW/cm² = 204 W/m²
UVC ( 0 nm - 280 nm)	4.88 µW/cm² = 0.0488 W/m²
non-terrestrial ( 0 nm - 290 nm)	7.11 µW/cm² = 0.0711 W/m²
total2 ( 250 nm - 880 nm)	20400 µW/cm² = 204 W/m²
UVB (EU) ( 280 nm - 315 nm)	62.3 µW/cm² = 0.623 W/m²
UVB (US) ( 280 nm - 320 nm)	70.9 µW/cm² = 0.709 W/m²
UVA+B ( 280 nm - 380 nm)	1760 µW/cm² = 17.6 W/m²
Solar UVB ( 290 nm - 315 nm)	60 µW/cm² = 0.6 W/m²
UVA D3 regulating ( 315 nm - 335 nm)	152 µW/cm² = 1.52 W/m²
UVA (EU) ( 315 nm - 380 nm)	1700 µW/cm² = 17 W/m²
UVA2 (medical definition) ( 320 nm - 340 nm)	227 µW/cm² = 2.27 W/m²
UVA (US) ( 320 nm - 380 nm)	1690 µW/cm² = 16.9 W/m²
UVA1 (variant) ( 335 nm - 380 nm)	1550 µW/cm² = 15.5 W/m²
UVA1 (medical) ( 340 nm - 400 nm)	2200 µW/cm² = 22 W/m²
vis. UVA ( 350 nm - 380 nm)	1360 µW/cm² = 13.6 W/m²
VIS Rep3 ( 350 nm - 600 nm)	16600 µW/cm² = 166 W/m²
VIS Rep4 ( 350 nm - 700 nm)	19600 µW/cm² = 196 W/m²
purple ( 380 nm - 420 nm)	2250 µW/cm² = 22.5 W/m²
VIS ( 380 nm - 780 nm)	18600 µW/cm² = 186 W/m²
PAR ( 400 nm - 700 nm)	17500 µW/cm² = 175 W/m²
blue ( 420 nm - 490 nm)	3290 µW/cm² = 32.9 W/m²
green ( 490 nm - 575 nm)	6240 µW/cm² = 62.4 W/m²
yellow ( 575 nm - 585 nm)	775 µW/cm² = 7.75 W/m²
orange ( 585 nm - 650 nm)	4950 µW/cm² = 49.5 W/m²
red ( 650 nm - 780 nm)	1090 µW/cm² = 10.9 W/m²
IRA ( 700 nm - 1400 nm)	366 µW/cm² = 3.66 W/m²
IRB ( 1400 nm - 3000 nm)	0 µW/cm² = 0 W/m²

Erythema	6.29 UV-Index
Pyrimidine dimerization of DNA	28.4 µW/cm²
Photoceratitis	8.6 µW/cm²
Photoconjunctivitis	3.78 µW/cm²
DNA Damage	5.35
Vitamin D3	16.2 µW/cm²
Photosynthesis	11200 µW/cm²
Luminosity	62600 lx
Human L-Cone	9500 µW/cm²
Human M-Cone	7510 µW/cm²
Human S-Cone	2870 µW/cm²
CIE X	8380 µW/cm²
CIE Y	8730 µW/cm²
CIE Z	5120 µW/cm²
PAR	84800000 mol photons
Extinction preD3	132 e-3*m²/mol
Extinction Tachysterol	432 e-3*m²/mol
Exctincition PreD3	89300 m²/mol
Extinction Lumisterol	67.4 m²/mol
Exctincition Tachysterol	655000 m²/mol
Extinction 7DHC	81.5 m²/mol
L-Cone	8270 µW/cm²
M-Cone	5300 µW/cm²
S-Cone	5150 µW/cm²
U-Cone	4840 µW/cm²
UVR - ICNIRP 2004	9.43 Rel Biol Eff
Melatonin Supression	4430 µW/cm²
Blue Light Hazard	3440 µW/cm² (55 µW/cm² per 1000 lx)
CIE 174:2006 PreVit D3	16.7 µW/cm²
Lumen Reptil	56100 "pseudo-lx"
Vitamin D3 Degradation	19.8 µW/cm²
Actinic UV	9.3 µW/cm² (1.49 mW/klm)
Exctincition Lumisterol	80000 m²/mol
Exctincition 7DHC	91900 m²/mol
Exctincition Toxisterols	13300 m²/mol

Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, pre 2010)	101 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UV-Index, pre 2010)	5.89
Leybold UVB	65.5 µW/cm²
Leybold UVA	1350 µW/cm²
Leybold UVC	1.97 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVB	200 µW/cm²
DeltaOhm UVC	21.9 µW/cm²
Vernier UVB	23.9 µW/cm²
Vernier UVA	703 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVA	1500 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVB	39.2 µW/cm²
Gröbel UVC	2.94 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.4 (D3)	18.4 IU/min
UVX-31	281 µW/cm²
IL UVB	0.0512 µW/cm²
IL UVA	1580 µW/cm²
Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI, post 2010)	3.99 UV-Index
Solarmeter 6.2 (UVB, post 2010)	60 µW/cm² (Solarmeter Ratio = 15)
Solarmeter AlGaN 6.5 UVI sensor	49.7 UV Index
GenUV 7.1 UV-Index	2.92 UV-Index
Solarmeter 10.0 (Global Power)	199 W/m²
Solarmeter 4.0 (UVA)	25.7 mW/cm²
LS122	0 W/m²
ISM400	131 W/m²