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Cited by 137Insect and Arachnid Ecology and BehaviorSpatial Cognition and NavigationEvacuation and Crowd Dynamics

Mapping the navigational knowledge of individually foraging ants,Myrmecia croslandi

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Narendra, Ajay, Gourmaud, Sarah, Zeil, Jochen·2013·Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2013.0683PMC PMC3712440
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Abstract

Ants are efficient navigators, guided by path integration and visual landmarks. Path integration is the primary strategy in landmark-poor habitats, but landmarks are readily used when available. The landmark panorama provides reliable information about heading direction, routes and specific location. Visual memories for guidance are often acquired along routes or near to significant places. Over what area can such locally acquired memories provide information for reaching a place? This question is unusually approachable in the solitary foraging Australian jack jumper ant, since individual foragers typically travel to one or two nest-specific foraging trees. We find that within 10 m from the nest, ants both with and without home vector information available from path integration return directly to the nest from all compass directions, after briefly scanning the panorama. By reconstructing panoramic views within the successful homing range, we show that in the open woodland habitat of these ants, snapshot memories acquired close to the nest provide sufficient navigational information to determine nest-directed heading direction over a surprisingly large area, including areas that animals may have not visited previously.

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  • Navigating animals assign more weight to spatial cues that are more salient or more stable and familiar; this is true in both insects and vertebrates.

    “For example, navigating animals assign more weight to spatial cues that are more salient or more stable and familiar; this is true in both insects8–13 and vertebrates3–7,14.”

    From Multimodal cue integration and learning in a neural representation of head direction (2025) · cites this paper as [12]

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References 44 · Cited by 137

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Authors
Narendra, A., Gourmaud, S., & Zeil, J.
Affiliations
Australian National University (AU)
Corresponding author
Narendra, Ajay
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2013-08-22
Volume
280
Issue
1765
Pages
20130683
ISSN
  • 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
  • 0962-8452
  • 1471-2954
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2013.0683
PMC
PMC3712440
OpenAlex
W2081223351
Cited by
137
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4
FWCI
8.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Ocean Engineering › Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics
Keywords
ant navigation, path integration, visual landmarks, homing, heading direction, solitary foraging, visual memory
MeSH terms
Animals, Ants, Australia, Cues, Homing Behavior, Memory, Orientation, Ecosystem, Geographic Information Systems

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