A dung beetle that path integrates without the use of landmarks

• Unusual amongst dung beetles,Scarabaeus galenusdigs 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 thatS. galenususes 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. galenusdo not appear to supplement estimates of the burrow location with landmark information. Thus,S. galenusrepresents a rare case of a consistently backward-homing animal that does not use landmarks to augment its path integration strategy.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Zoologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Zoology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Navigation

Homing

Path integration

Search

Dung beetle

Scarabaeus

Dung beetle

Homing

Navigation

Path integration

Scarabaeus

Search

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)