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First published online January 17, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 375-382 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02674
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Hair plate mechanoreceptors associated with body segments are not necessary for three-dimensional path integration in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis

Matthias Wittlinger1,*, Harald Wolf1 and Rüdiger Wehner2

1 Department of Neurobiology, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-89069 Ulm, Germany
2 Institute of Zoology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland


Figure 1
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  		Fig. 1. Manipulated hair plates. (A) Schematic drawing of a Cataglyphis worker ant, lateral view. The positions of the manipulated hair plates are indicated (red rectangles); (a) neck joint, (b) alitrunk–petiole joint, (c) petiole–gaster joint. Drawing adapted from (Wehner, 1983Go). (B) Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the petiole–gaster joint; ventral view. Hair plates are in the centre of the image, not manipulated. (C) SEM of the petiole–gaster joint, ventral view; the hair plates had been shaved with a razor splinter (one of the experimental animals that contributed to the data in Fig. 4B).

 

Figure 2
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  		Fig. 2. Immobilisation of body parts. (A) Body posture in walking ants, Cataglyphis fortis. (B) Animal with its head fixed to the alitrunk. (C) Gaster (metasoma) fixed to the alitrunk in a prolate position of approximately 180°. (D) Gaster fixed onto the alitrunk in an erect (<90°) position. Drawing adapted from (Wehner, 1983Go). Beeswax–resin glue indicated in red.

 

Figure 3
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  		Fig. 3. Experimental situation and channel layout. (A) Channel cross section; (B) single channel segment for hill training; (C) hill training and flat training channels; (D) test channel. The search behaviour exhibited by Cataglyphis fortis foragers after having run off their home vector is illustrated schematically below the test channel (search trajectory). Not drawn to scale.

 

Figure 4
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  		Fig. 4. Training across the artificial hill set-up (compare Fig. 3C), experimental data I (shaving). The top panels show search density plots (abscissae, homing distances; ordinates, cumulated relative search densities between the first and sixth turning points; see Materials and methods). The bottom diagrams display box-and-whisker plots (medians of the initial six turning points), derived from the same data sets (N=15–20 ants for each experimental situation). 0–0, 0–1 and 1–1 are double-digit codes for the particular test situation, the first digit represents the outbound run and the second digit represents the homebound run; 0 denotes the normal situation, 1 denotes the manipulated condition. (A) Animals with the hair plates in their neck region shaved. (B) Animals with the hair plates in the petiole–gaster region shaved. (C) Animals with both neck and petiole–gaster regions shaved.

 

Figure 5
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  		Fig. 5. Training across the flat channel set-up, experimental data I (A,B) and II (C). Diagrams and details of presentation are the same as described in Fig. 4. (A) Animals with the hair plates in their neck region shaved. (B) Animals with the hair plates in their petiole–gaster region shaved. (C) Animals with their gaster fixed in an erect (<90°) position.

 

Figure 6
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  		Fig. 6. Training across the artificial hill set-up, experimental data II (immobilisation). Diagrams and details of presentation are the same as described in the legend of Fig. 4. (A) Animals with their gaster fixed in a prolate (~180°) position. (B) Animals with their head fixed in a normal position. (C) Animals with their gaster fixed in an erect (<90°) position.

 




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007