Cognitive abilities with a tiny brain: Neuronal structures and associative learning in the minute Nephanes titan (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae)

Polilov, Alexey A.; Makarova, Anastasia A.; Kolesnikova, Uliana K.

doi:10.1016/j.asd.2018.11.008

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Associative learning has not been studied in Thysanoptera, but it has been found in a variety of orders of insects where it has been proposed that any animal with a nervous system has the potential to learn [ 84 ]. Extremely small insects with very small brains such as the featherwing beetle ( Nephanes titan ) (Coleoptera: Ptiilidae) have been found to learn to associate colour with food [ 85 ], showing that brain size is not an impediment for learning [ 86 ]. However, whether species of Thysanoptera are capable of shifting their colour preference based on the colour of host plant species remains a hypothesis for further study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colour Response in Western Flower Thrips Varies Intraspecifically

Lopez-Reyes

Armstrong

Teulon

et al. 2022

Insects

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Discrepancies in the published research as to the attraction of the economically important pest western flower thrips (WFT) to different colours confounds the optimisation of field traps for pest management purposes. We considered whether the different experimental conditions of independent studies could have contributed to this. Therefore, the behavioural response (i.e., landings) to different colour cues of two WFT laboratory populations from Germany (DE) and The Netherlands (NL), which had previously been independently shown to have different colour preferences, were tested in the same place, and under the same experimental conditions. Single-choice wind tunnel bioassays supported previous independent findings, with more of a NL population landing on the yellow LED lamp (588 nm) than the blue (470 nm) (p = 0.022), and a not-statistically significant trend observed in a DE population landing more on blue compared to yellow (p = 0.104). To account for potential original host rearing influences, both populations were subsequently established on bean for ~20 weeks, then yellow chrysanthemum for 4–8 and 12–14 weeks and tested in wind tunnel choice bioassays. Laboratory of origin, irrespective of the host plant rearing regime, remained a significant effect (p < 0.001), with 65% of the NL WFT landing on yellow compared to blue (35%), while 66% of the DE WFT landed on blue compared to yellow (34%). There was also a significant host plant effect (p < 0.001), with increased response to yellow independent of laboratory of origin after rearing on chrysanthemum for 12–14 weeks. Results suggest that differing responses of WFT populations to colour is, in this case, independent of the experimental situation. Long-term separate isolation from the wild cannot be excluded as a cause, and the implications of this for optimising the trap colour is discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colour Response in Western Flower Thrips Varies Intraspecifically

Lopez-Reyes

Armstrong

Teulon

et al. 2022

Insects

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“…While ants can memorize such information as routes through intricate landscapes (e.g., Wystrach and Beugnon 2009), their cognitive power is too meager to comprehend in detail all the activities in a colony, as would appear to be required to successfully organize its workers. Yet insects with far tinier brains are capable of surprisingly intricate learned behaviors (Polilov et al 2019), suggesting that the limited behavioral repertoires of ants might represent a functional adaptation to colony life rather than be due entirely to limitations of brain size (for more about ant brains, see Feinerman and Traniello 2016;Godfrey and Gronenberg 2019). As for the ants' inability to grasp the totality of what's happening, the same can be said for the CEO of a major company: Though clearly the CEO operates at a vastly higher plane of reasoning than any nonhuman, he or she nonetheless relies on underlings to distill a sweeping view of the organization.…”

Section: Absence Of Hierarchies and Leadersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant colonies: building complex organizations with minuscule brains and no leaders

et al. 2021

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Thus far the articles in the series JOD calls the "Organization Zoo" have employed the notion of a "zoo" metaphorically to describe an array of human institutions. Here we take the term literally to consider the design of the most complex organizations in the living world beside those of humans, a favorite of insect zoos around the world: ant colonies. We consider individuality and group identity in the functioning of ant organizations; advantages of a flat organization without hierarchies or leaders; self-organization; direct and indirect communication; job specialization; labor coordination; and the role of errors in innovation. The likely value and limitations of comparing ant and human organizations are briefly examined.

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“…Surprisingly, the limited data suggest that smaller animals tend not to show behavioral deficits. For example, individuals of Nephanes titan (Ptiliidae) feather wing beetles, one of the smallest free-living insects, needed only two trials to learn to associate visual cues (white vs. grey filter paper) with food [ 6 ]. Nonetheless, their behavior was not compared with that of larger relatives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex behavioral plasticity is not reduced in spiderlings with miniature brains

2021

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The brains of smaller animals are smaller than those of their larger relatives, but it is not clear whether their adaptive behavioral flexibility is more limited. Previous interspecific comparisons found that aspects of web construction behavior of very small orb weaving spiders (0.005 mg) were no less precise than those of much larger related orb weavers (30 mg), but the behaviors tested were relatively simple. Here we perform a more sensitive intraspecific test involving the multiple behavioral adjustments of orb web designs made by Leucauge argyra to confinement in very small spaces. Web adjustments of spiderlings as small as ~0.1 mg were compared to previously published observations of ~80 mg conspecific adults. Spiderlings in constrained spaces made all of the complex adjustments made by adults in at least seven independent web design variables, and their adjustments were no less precise. Rough estimates based on previously published data on total brain volumes and the mean diameters of neuron cell bodies suggested that spiderlings and adult females of Leucauge may have similar numbers of neurons, due to spiderlings having smaller neurons and a greater percentage of body tissues dedicated to the brain. We speculate that this neural similarity may explain why L. argyra spiderlings showed no behavioral deficits compared with adults.

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Cognitive abilities with a tiny brain: Neuronal structures and associative learning in the minute Nephanes titan (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae)

Cited by 13 publications

References 34 publications

Colour Response in Western Flower Thrips Varies Intraspecifically

Colour Response in Western Flower Thrips Varies Intraspecifically

Ant colonies: building complex organizations with minuscule brains and no leaders

Complex behavioral plasticity is not reduced in spiderlings with miniature brains

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