Magnetoreception in Hymenoptera: Importance for Navigation

Overview

Journal Anim Cogn

Publisher Springer

Specialty Veterinary Medicine

Date 2020 Sep 25

PMID 32975654

Citations 16

Authors

Pauline N Fleischmann

Robin Grob

Wolfgang Rossler

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The use of information provided by the geomagnetic field (GMF) for navigation is widespread across the animal kingdom. At the same time, the magnetic sense is one of the least understood senses. Here, we review evidence for magnetoreception in Hymenoptera. We focus on experiments aiming to shed light on the role of the GMF for navigation. Both honeybees and desert ants are well-studied experimental models for navigation, and both use the GMF for specific navigational tasks under certain conditions. Cataglyphis desert ants use the GMF as a compass cue for path integration during their initial learning walks to align their gaze directions towards the nest entrance. This represents the first example for the use of the GMF in an insect species for a genuine navigational task under natural conditions and with all other navigational cues available. We argue that the recently described magnetic compass in Cataglyphis opens up a new integrative approach to understand the mechanisms underlying magnetoreception in Hymenoptera on different biological levels.

Citing Articles

Cryptochrome magnetoreception: Time course of photoactivation from non-equilibrium coarse-grained molecular dynamics.

Ramsay J, Schuhmann F, Solovyov I, Kattnig D Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2025; 26():58-69.

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The origins of light-independent magnetoreception in humans.

Shibata T, Hattori N, Nishijo H, Kuroda S, Takakusaki K Front Hum Neurosci. 2024; 18:1482872.

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Through an animal's eye: the implications of diverse sensory systems in scientific experimentation.

Brebner J, Loconsole M, Hanley D, Vasas V Proc Biol Sci. 2024; 291(2027):20240022.

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Neuromorphic antennal sensory system.

Jiang C, Xu H, Yang L, Liu J, Li Y, Takei K Nat Commun. 2024; 15(1):2109.

PMID: 38453967 PMC: 10920631. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46393-7.

Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants.

Grob R, Muller V, Grubel K, Rossler W, Fleischmann P Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024; 121(8):e2320764121.

PMID: 38346192 PMC: 10895258. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320764121.

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