Vector Navigation in Desert Ants, Cataglyphis Fortis: Celestial Compass Cues Are Essential for the Proper Use of Distance Information
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The Brain of Cataglyphis Ants: Neuronal Organization and 2 Visual Projections 3
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.19.954461; this version posted February 19, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 The brain of Cataglyphis ants: neuronal organization and 2 visual projections 3 4 Jens Habenstein1*, Emad Amini2*, Kornelia Grübel1, Basil el Jundi1#, Wolfgang 5 Rössler1# 6 1 University of Würzburg, Biocenter, Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), Am 7 Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany 8 2 University of Würzburg, Biocenter, Neurobiology and Genetics, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, 9 Germany 10 11 *shared first authorship 12 #shared senior authorship 13 14 Abstract 15 Cataglyphis ants are known for their outstanding navigational abilities. They return to 16 their inconspicuous nest after far-reaching foraging trips using path integration, and 17 whenever available, learn and memorize visual features of panoramic sceneries. To 18 achieve this, the ants combine directional visual information from celestial cues and 19 panoramic scenes with distance information from an intrinsic odometer. The largely 20 vision-based navigation in Cataglyphis requires sophisticated neuronal networks to 21 process the broad repertoire of visual stimuli. Although Cataglyphis ants have been 22 subject to many neuroethological studies, little is known about the general neuronal 23 organization of their central brain and the visual pathways beyond major circuits. 24 Here, we provide a comprehensive, three-dimensional neuronal map of synapse-rich 25 neuropils in the brain of Cataglyphis nodus including major connecting fiber systems. 26 In addition, we examined neuronal tracts underlying the processing of visual 27 information in more detail. -
Borowiec Et Al-2020 Ants – Phylogeny and Classification
A Ants: Phylogeny and 1758 when the Swedish botanist Carl von Linné Classification published the tenth edition of his catalog of all plant and animal species known at the time. Marek L. Borowiec1, Corrie S. Moreau2 and Among the approximately 4,200 animals that he Christian Rabeling3 included were 17 species of ants. The succeeding 1University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA two and a half centuries have seen tremendous 2Departments of Entomology and Ecology & progress in the theory and practice of biological Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, classification. Here we provide a summary of the NY, USA current state of phylogenetic and systematic 3Social Insect Research Group, Arizona State research on the ants. University, Tempe, AZ, USA Ants Within the Hymenoptera Tree of Ants are the most ubiquitous and ecologically Life dominant insects on the face of our Earth. This is believed to be due in large part to the cooperation Ants belong to the order Hymenoptera, which also allowed by their sociality. At the time of writing, includes wasps and bees. ▶ Eusociality, or true about 13,500 ant species are described and sociality, evolved multiple times within the named, classified into 334 genera that make up order, with ants as by far the most widespread, 17 subfamilies (Fig. 1). This diversity makes the abundant, and species-rich lineage of eusocial ants the world’s by far the most speciose group of animals. Within the Hymenoptera, ants are part eusocial insects, but ants are not only diverse in of the ▶ Aculeata, the clade in which the ovipos- terms of numbers of species. -
Nest Defense and Conspecific Enemy Recognition in the Desert
P1: JRX Journal of Insect Behavior [joib] pp1033-joir-474318 November 6, 2003 13:37 Style file version Feb 08, 2000 Journal of Insect Behavior, Vol. 16, No. 5, September 2003 (C 2003) Nest Defense and Conspecific Enemy Recognition in the Desert Ant Cataglyphis fortis Markus Knaden1 and Rudiger¨ Wehner1,2 Accepted July 16, 2003; revised August 12, 2003 This study focuses on different factors affecting the level of aggression in the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis. We found that the readiness to fight against conspecific ants was high in ants captured close to the nest entrance (0- and 1-m distances). At a 5-m distance from the nest entrance the level of aggression was significantly lower. As the mean foraging range in desert ants by far exceeds this distance, the present account clearly shows that in C. fortis aggressive behavior is displayed in the context of nest, rather than food-territory defense. In addition, ants were more aggressive against members of a colony with which they had recently exchanged aggressive encounters than against members of a yet unknown colony. This finding is discussed in terms of a learned, enemy- specific label-template recognition process. KEY WORDS: aggression; Cataglyphis; “dear-enemy” phenomenon; enemy recognition; territoriality. INTRODUCTION The desert ant Cataglyphis fortis (Wehner, 1983) is the only species of ants inhabiting the vast plains of the North African salt pans. The colonies of this medium-sized monomorphic Cataglyphis species (body length, 5.5– 9.6 mm; head width, 1.1–2.4 mm; [Wehner, 1983; Dillier, 1998]) comprise only about 50 foragers, which search individually for dead arthropods (Wehner, 1983, 1987). -
Path Integration Controls Nest-Plume Following in Desert Ants
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Current Biology 22, 645–649, April 10, 2012 ª2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2012.02.029 Report Path Integration Controls Nest-Plume Following in Desert Ants Cornelia Buehlmann,1 Bill S. Hansson,1,2,* to leave and enter their nests via a central opening (Figure 2A; and Markus Knaden1,2,* for details, see Experimental Procedures). To exclude any 1Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knoell nest-defining cues other than nest odor, we installed circular Strasse 8, 07745 Jena, Germany barriers (height, 0.1 m; Ø: 3.4 m) surrounding the arenas. A U-shaped aluminum channel (length, 2 m) pointing away from the arena was dug into the ground and led the ants under Summary the barrier toward the feeder. After about 30 min, the ants learned to enter the channel and pinpoint the feeder. Homing The desert ant Cataglyphis fortis is equipped with sophisti- ants had to pass along the channel, climb onto the arena via cated navigational skills for returning to its nest after a sand ramp, and locate the nest entrance in the center of foraging [1, 2]. The ant’s primary means for long-distance the arena. The visually identical arena setups allowed us to navigation is path integration, which provides a continuous transfer ants from the feeder of their own setup to a setup readout of the ant’s approximate distance [3] and direction connected either with a foreign nest or with no nest (no-nest [4] from the nest [5]. -
Review Article Rossomyrmex, the Slave-Maker Ants from the Arid Steppe Environments
Hindawi Publishing Corporation Psyche Volume 2013, Article ID 541804, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/541804 Review Article Rossomyrmex, the Slave-Maker Ants from the Arid Steppe Environments F. Ruano,1 O. Sanllorente,1,2 A. Lenoir,3 and A. Tinaut1 1 Departamento de Zoolog´ıa, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain 2 Departamento de Biolog´ıa Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Jaen,´ Campus Las Lagunillas s/n, 23071 Jaen,´ Spain 3 Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, IRBI-UMR CNRS 7261, Faculte´ des Sciences et Techniques, UniversiteFranc´ ¸ois Rabelais, 37200 Tours, France Correspondence should be addressed to F. Ruano; [email protected] Received 8 March 2013; Accepted 9 May 2013 Academic Editor: David P. Hughes Copyright © 2013 F. Ruano et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The host-parasite genera Proformica-Rossomyrmex present four pairs of species with a very wide range of distribution from China to Southeastern Spain, from huge extended plains to the top of high mountains. Here we review (1) the published data on these pairs in comparison to other slave-makers; (2) the different dispersal ability in hosts and parasites inferred from genetics (chance of migration conditions the evolutionary potential of the species); (3) the evolutionary potential of host and parasite determining the coevolutionary process in each host-parasite system that we treat to define using cuticular chemical data. We find a lower evolutionary potential in parasites than in hosts in fragmented populations, where selective pressures give advantage to a limited female parasite migration due to uncertainty of locating a host nest. -
Cataglyphis Desert Ants: a Good Model for Evolutionary Biology in Darwin's
Cataglyphis desert ants: a good model for evolutionary biology in Darwin’s anniversary year—A review ALAIN LENOIR,1 SERGE ARON,2 XIM CERDÁ,3 AND ABRAHAM HEFETZ4 1IRBI, UMR CNRS 6035, Université François Rabelais, Faculté des Sciences, 37200 Tours, France. E-mail: [email protected] 2Université Libre de Bruxelles, Service Évolution Biologique & Écologie, C.P. 160/12 50, av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgique. E-mail: [email protected] 3Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, E-41092 Sevilla, Spain. E-mail: [email protected] 4Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Cataglyphis ants comprise one of the most characteristic groups of insects in arid regions around the Mediterranean basin and have been intensively stud- ied over the last 30 years. These ants are central-place foragers and scaven- gers, single-prey loaders that have become a model for insect navigation using sophisticated visual orientation, having lost pheromone orientation. They are highly heat-tolerant ants that forage close to their critical thermal limit dur- ing the hottest hours of the day, with their long-chain cuticular hydrocarbons protecting them from desiccation. This is exemplified in two Cataglyphis species, each of which developed different mechanisms for counteracting extreme heat when foraging: polymorphism of workers vs. physiological and behavioral adaptations. Several species in this genus have also become a model for studying nestmate recognition mechanisms. The role of cuticular hydrocarbons and the postpharyngeal gland as a reservoir of hydrocarbons in nestmate recognition was initially discovered mainly in Cataglyphis, includ- ing the first experimental demonstration of the Gestalt model of nestmate recognition. -
Path Integration As the Basic Navigation Mechanism of the Desert Ant Cataglyphis Fortis (FOREL, 1902) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Myrmecological News 11 53-62 Vienna, August 2008 Path integration as the basic navigation mechanism of the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis (FOREL, 1902) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Bernhard RONACHER Abstract This review describes recent progress in the analysis of the fascinating navigation abilities of desert ants. On their for- aging excursions, ants of the genus Cataglyphis cover distances up to hundred thousand body lengths. Having found a prey item they return to their inconspicuous nests with high precision, using path integration as their major navigation aid. This account focuses on the question of how these ants measure their travelling distances, information that is an es- sential constituent of path integration. Recently it has been shown that Cataglyphis uses a stride integrator to measure walking distances. Remarkably, the ants' path integration module works precisely even when the animals forage in un- dulating terrain, e.g., when climbing over walls or hills. This indicates that the ants are able to measure the inclination of ascents or descents, and do integrate this information into their distance estimates. Navigation by means of path integra- tion is error prone due to its susceptibility to accumulate errors. Cataglyphis and other desert ant species use landmarks – if present – as additional navigational aid. Many studies were devoted to the interactions between the path integration system and landmarks. There are no indications that by combining vector and landmark information ants would acquire a representation of their environs in the sense of a "cognitive map". A lesson that we may learn from the small-brain navigator Cataglyphis is how complex, "high-level" behaviour is achieved by the interaction of rather simple, "low- level" subroutines. -
Dissertation Norman Nan
Biological and Bioinspired Photonic Materials for Passive Radiative Cooling and Waveguiding Norman Nan Shi Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2018 © 2018 Norman Nan Shi All rights reserved ABSTRACT Biological and Bioinspired Photonic Materials for Passive Radiative Cooling and Waveguiding Norman Nan Shi Animals have evolved diverse strategies to control solar and thermal radiations so that they can better adapt to their natural habitats. Structured materials utilized by these animals to control electromagnetic waves often surpass analogous man-made optical materials in both sophistication and efficiency. Understanding the physical mechanism behind these structured materials of nature inspires one to create novel materials and technologies. Our optical and thermodynamic measurements of insects (Saharan silver ants and cocoons of the Madagascar comet moth) living in harsh thermal environments showed their unique ability to simultaneously enhance solar reflectivity and thermal emissivity, and to maintain a cool body temperature. Saharan silver ants, Cataglyphis bombycina, forage on the desert surface during the middle of the day. The ants’ conspicuous silvery glance is caused by a coating of hairs with unique triangular cross-sections. The hair coating enhances not only the reflectivity of the ant’s body surface in the visible and near-infrared range of the spectrum, where solar radiation culminates, but also the emissivity of the ant in the mid-infrared. The latter effect enables the animals to efficiently dissipate heat back to the surroundings via blackbody radiation under full daylight conditions. The fibers produced by the wild comet moth, Argema mittrei, are populated with a high density of air voids that have a random distribution in the fiber cross-section but are invariant along the fiber. -
Optomotor Response Reduced by Procaine Injection in The
OPTOMOTOR RESPONSE REDUCED BY PROCAINE INJECTION IN THE CENTRAL COMPLEX OF THE COCKROACH, BLABERUS DISCOIDALIS BY: MALAVIKA KESAVAN Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Science Dissertation Adviser: Dr. Roy Ritzmann Department of Biology CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY January, 2014 1 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of Malavika Kesavan candidate for the Master of Science degree *. (Committee Chair) Dr. Jean Burns Dr. Roy Ritzmann Dr. Mark Willis Dr. Barbara Freeman (date) 08/28/2013 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………….. 8 INTRODUCTION ...………………………………………………………………….. 9 Basic anatomy of the B. discoidalis …………………………………………………. 11 External Anatomy …………………………………………………………….. 11 Internal Anatomy ……………………………………………………………... 11 The Head Ganglia in Insects ………………………………………………….. 12 The Central Complex: Anatomy ……………………………………………… 14 Focus of project ……………………………………………………………………… 16 Basic Visual Information Flow in Insects ………………………………………….. 16 Anatomy ……………………………………………………………………… 17 Basic Visual Movement Detection ………………………………………….... 18 The Central Complex ……………………………………………………………….. 19 Comparative Approach lends Insight into function of Central Complex .......... 19 Overview of Central Complex Development ………………………………… 19 The Central Complex's influence on Spatial Orientation …………………….. 21 The Central Complex Role in Changing Motor Behavior……………………… 22 The Central Complex and Memory …………………………………………... 25 Motor Behavior -
A Review of Effects of Environment on Brain Size in Insects
insects Review A Review of Effects of Environment on Brain Size in Insects Thomas Carle Faculty of Biology, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan; [email protected] Simple Summary: What makes a big brain is fascinating since it is considered as a measure of intelligence. Above all, brain size is associated with body size. If species that have evolved with complex social behaviours possess relatively bigger brains than those deprived of such behaviours, this does not constitute the only factor affecting brain size. Other factors such as individual experience or surrounding environment also play roles in the size of the brain. In this review, I summarize the recent findings about the effects of environment on brain size in insects. I also discuss evidence about how the environment has an impact on sensory systems and influences brain size. Abstract: Brain size fascinates society as well as researchers since it is a measure often associated with intelligence and was used to define species with high “intellectual capabilities”. In general, brain size is correlated with body size. However, there are disparities in terms of relative brain size between species that may be explained by several factors such as the complexity of social behaviour, the ‘social brain hypothesis’, or learning and memory capabilities. These disparities are used to classify species according to an ‘encephalization quotient’. However, environment also has an important role on the development and evolution of brain size. In this review, I summarise the recent studies looking at the effects of environment on brain size in insects, and introduce the idea that the role of environment might be mediated through the relationship between olfaction and vision. -
Landmark Guidance and Vector Navigation in Outbound Desert Ants
3370 The Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 3370-3377 Published by The Company of Biologists 2008 doi:10.1242/jeb.022715 Landmark guidance and vector navigation in outbound desert ants Tobias Merkle1,* and Rüdiger Wehner2 1Centre for Visual Sciences, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia and 2Institute of Zoology and Brain Research Institute, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland *Author for correspondence (e-mail: [email protected]) Accepted 6 September 2008 SUMMARY This study deals with the influence landmark information has on the foraging behaviour of the desert ant, Cataglyphis fortis, especially with the interaction of such landmark information with the antsʼ path integration system. We show in the first experiment that desert ants that are captured immediately after leaving their nest and then transferred to a remote test area search for the nest rather than activate their previous path integration vector. In a second experiment, the ants had been trained to a landmark corridor on their way to the feeder. In the critical test situation, they were again captured immediately after they had left the nest and transferred to a test field where they faced one of the following three situations: (1) the same landmark corridor as used during the training phase, (2) no landmarks at all and (3) a landmark corridor rotated by 90 deg. as compared with the training situation. Nearly all ants in test situation (1) eventually followed the landmark corridor but most of them never reached the fictive feeder. In situation (2), the ants searched around the nest entrance. -
Cataglyphis, an Ant from the Sahara Desert WALTER J
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 92, pp. 2994-2998, March 1995 Ecology Heat shock protein synthesis and thermotolerance in Cataglyphis, an ant from the Sahara desert WALTER J. GEHRING*t AND RUDIGER WEHNERt *Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland; and *Zoological Institute, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland Contributed by Walter J. Gehring, December 30, 1994 ABSTRACT The ant Cataglyphis lives in the Sahara desert cognates (HSCs), which are strongly expressed at normal and is one of the most thermotolerant land animals known. It temperatures (5, 6). In contrast to HSP70, the HSP83 protein forages at body temperatures above 50°C, and the critical is not only heat inducible, but it is also expressed at relatively thermal maxima are at 53.6 + O.8AC for Cataglyphis bombycina high levels during development at normal temperatures. The and 55.1 + 1.1°C for Cataglyphis bicolor. The synthesis and four small HSPs, HSP22, -23, -26, and -27, are encoded by four accumulation of heat shock proteins (HSPs) were analyzed in genes clustered at the same chromosomal locus. They are heat Cataglyphis and compared to Formica, an ant living in more inducible in all cells but are also expressed in various tissues moderate climates, and to two Drosophila species. In Catagly- during development at normal temperatures. In contrast to HSP70 and HSP83, which are highly conserved in evolution, phis, protein synthesis continues at temperatures up to 45°C the four small HSPs are more variable among various Dro- as compared to 39°C for Formica and Drosophila.