Digger wasps Microbembex monodonta SAY (Hymenoptera, Crabronidae) rely exclusively on visual cues when pinpointing their nest entrances

Abstract

The ability of insects to navigate and home is crucial to fundamental tasks, such as pollination, parental care, procuring food, and finding mates. Despite recent advances in our understanding of visual homing in insects, it remains unclear exactly how ground-nesting Hymenoptera are able to precisely locate their often inconspicuous or hidden reproductive burrow entrances. Here we show that the ground-nesting waspMicrobembex monodontalocates her hidden burrow entrance with the help of local landmarks, but only if their view of the wider panorama is not blocked. Moreover, the wasps are able to pinpoint the burrow location to within a few centimeters when potential olfactory, tactile and auditory cues are locally masked. We conclude thatM.monodontalocate their hidden burrows relying exclusively on local visual cues in the context of the wider panorama. We discuss these results in the light of the older and more recent literature on nest recognition and homing in insects.