ArticleAnimal cognition2020
A dung beetle that path integrates without the use of landmarks.
Article in Animal cognition, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Nature's All-in-One: Multitasking Robots Inspired by Dung Beetles.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Temporal effects of sugar intake on fly local search and honey bee dance behaviour.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024Article
- Route retracing: way pointing and multiple vector memories in trail-following ants.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Displacement experiments provide evidence for path integration in Drosophila.The Journal of experimental biology · 2023Article
- What view information is most important in the homeward navigation of an Australian bull ant, Myrmecia midas?Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2022Article
- The balbyter antFrontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2022Article
- Humans, fish, spiders and bees inherited working memory and attention from their last common ancestor.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Navigation and orientation in Coleoptera: a review of strategies and mechanisms.Animal cognition · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Unusual amongst dung beetles, Scarabaeus galenus digs a burrow that it provisions by making repeated trips to a nearby dung pile. Even more remarkable is that these beetles return home moving backwards, with a pellet of dung between their hind legs. Here, we explore the strategy that S. galenus uses to find its way home. We find that, like many other insects, they use path integration to calculate the direction and distance to their home. If they fail to locate their burrow, the beetles initiate a distinct looping search behaviour that starts with a characteristic sharp turn, we have called a 'turning point'. When homing beetles are passively displaced or transferred to an unfamiliar environment, they initiate a search at a point very close to the location of their fictive burrow-that is, a spot at the same relative distance and direction from the pick-up point as the original burrow. Unlike other insects, S. galenus do not appear to supplement estimates of the burrow location with landmark information. Thus, S. galenus represents a rare case of a consistently backward-homing animal that does not use landmarks to augment its path integration strategy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.