Dorsal Navigation Found in A Flying Insect
Published:21 Jun.2021    Source:Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

People -- who get lost easily in the extraordinary darkness of a tropical forest -- have much to learn from a bee that can find its way home in conditions 10 times dimmer than starlight. Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's (STRI) research station on Barro Colorado Island in Panama and the University of Lund in Sweden reveal that sweat bees (Megalopta genalis), find their way home based on patterns in the canopy overhead using dorsal vision. 

 
This first report of dorsal navigation in a flying insect, published in Current Biology, may be of special interest to makers of drones and other night-flying vehicles.