ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2021
Sun compass neurons are tuned to migratory orientation in monarch butterflies.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies - neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- Emerging tools to advance neuroethology in butterflies and moths.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- Neurons sensitive to sky compass signals in the brain of the Madeira cockroach Rhyparobia maderae.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Article
- A north-south hemispheric migratory divide in the butterfly Vanessa cardui.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Migratory moths navigate using the stars.Nature · 2025Article
- Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) only use magnetic cues for migratory directionality with orientation re-calibrated by coldness.PloS one · 2025Article
- Continuous integration of heading and goal directions guides steering.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Monarch butterflies memorize the spatial location of a food source.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Migration genetics take flight: genetic and genomic insights into monarch butterfly migration.Current opinion in insect science · 2023Review
- Neural representation of goal direction in the monarch butterfly brain.Nature communications · 2023Article
- The influence of stimulus history on directional coding in the monarch butterfly brain.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2023Article
- Seasonal plasticity in morphology and metabolism differs between migratory North American and resident Costa Rican monarch butterflies.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Varieties of visual navigation in insects.Animal cognition · 2023Review
- Integration of optic flow into the sky compass network in the brain of the desert locust.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2023Article
- Receptive field structures for two celestial compass cues at the input stage of the central complex in the locust brain.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Stimulus-dependent orientation strategies in monarch butterflies.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Weighting of Celestial and Terrestrial Cues in the Monarch Butterfly Central Complex.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2022Article
- The Role of Experiments in Monarch Butterfly Conservation: A Review of Recent Studies and Approaches.Annals of the Entomological Society of America · 2022Article
- Sun compass neurons are tuned to migratory orientation in monarch butterflies.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Every autumn, monarch butterflies migrate from North America to their overwintering sites in Central Mexico. To maintain their southward direction, these butterflies rely on celestial cues as orientation references. The position of the sun combined with additional skylight cues are integrated in the central complex, a region in the butterfly's brain that acts as an internal compass. However, the central complex does not solely guide the butterflies on their migration but also helps monarchs in their non-migratory form manoeuvre on foraging trips through their habitat. By comparing the activity of input neurons of the central complex between migratory and non-migratory butterflies, we investigated how a different lifestyle affects the coding of orientation information in the brain. During recording, we presented the animals with different simulated celestial cues and found that the encoding of the sun was narrower in migratory compared to non-migratory butterflies. This feature might reflect the need of the migratory monarchs to rely on a precise sun compass to keep their direction during their journey. Taken together, our study sheds light on the neural coding of celestial cues and provides insights into how a compass is adapted in migratory animals to successfully steer them to their destination.
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