ArticleThe Journal of experimental biology2021
Minding the gap: learning and visual scanning behaviour in nocturnal bull ants.
Article in The Journal of experimental biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Phobic responses of bull ants (Myrmecia midas) to odours introduced on their foraging route.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2025Article
- Route learning and transport of resources during colony relocation in Australian desert ants.Learning & behavior · 2025Article
- Desert ants (Melophorus bagoti) oscillate and scan more in navigation when the visual scene changes.Animal cognition · 2025Article
- Desert Ant (Insects · 2024Article
- Nest excavators' learning walks in the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti.Animal cognition · 2024Article
- Directed retreat and navigational mechanisms in trail following Formica obscuripes.Learning & behavior · 2024Article
- Visual navigation: properties, acquisition and use of views.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2023Review
- Scanning behaviour in ants: an interplay between random-rate processes and oscillators.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 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
- Oscillators and servomechanisms in orientation and navigation, and sometimes in cognition.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Review
- Minding the gap: learning and visual scanning behaviour in nocturnal bull ants.The Journal of experimental biology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Insects possess small brains but exhibit sophisticated behaviour, specifically their ability to learn to navigate within complex environments. To understand how they learn to navigate in a cluttered environment, we focused on learning and visual scanning behaviour in the Australian nocturnal bull ant, Myrmecia midas, which are exceptional visual navigators. We tested how individual ants learn to detour via a gap and how they cope with substantial spatial changes over trips. Homing M. midas ants encountered a barrier on their foraging route and had to find a 50 cm gap between symmetrical large black screens, at 1 m distance towards the nest direction from the centre of the releasing platform in both familiar (on-route) and semi-familiar (off-route) environments. Foragers were tested for up to 3 learning trips with the changed conditions in both environments. The results showed that on the familiar route, individual foragers learned the gap quickly compared with when they were tested in the semi-familiar environment. When the route was less familiar, and the panorama was changed, foragers were less successful at finding the gap and performed more scans on their way home. Scene familiarity thus played a significant role in visual scanning behaviour. In both on-route and off-route environments, panoramic changes significantly affected learning, initial orientation and scanning behaviour. Nevertheless, over a few trips, success at gap finding increased, visual scans were reduced, the paths became straighter, and individuals took less time to reach the goal.
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