Innate visual attraction before, during and after escape from adverse substrates in carpenter ants.

ABSTRACT: Many animals exhibit an innate attraction to dark areas or objects, driving orientation behaviours such as beacon aiming. In ants, some species do not appear to display beacon aiming. Here, we show that in one such species, Camponotus japonicus, the behaviour is triggered when crossing liquid-covered surfaces, regardless of locomotor pattern and the presence of water in the liquid. Once initiated, beacon aiming persisted even after the ants transitioned from water to dry substrates, as evidenced by their reorientation towards a displaced beacon. Beacon aiming could be observed before the ants fully transitioned from a dry substrate to a liquid-covered surface: when the ants were isolated on a water-surrounded platform, attraction to a beacon emerged while they were contacting the water, be

SUBMITTER: Notomi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12276813 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature