10.5061/DRYAD.29J22TT
Thyselius, Malin
Uppsala University
Gonzalez-Bellido, Paloma T.
University of Cambridge
Wardill, Trevor J.
University of Cambridge
Nordstrom, Karin
Uppsala University
Data from: Visual approach computation in feeding hoverflies
Dryad
dataset
2018
retinal size
foraging behavior
Target detection
looming stimuli
motion vision
Eristalis tenax
2018-04-03T17:21:33Z
2018-04-03T17:21:33Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.177162
3314004 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
On warm sunny days female hoverflies are often observed feeding from a
wide range of wild and cultivated flowers. In doing so, hoverflies serve a
vital role as alternative pollinators, and suggested to be the most
important after bees and bumblebees. Unless the flower hoverflies are
feeding from is large, they do not readily share the space with other
insects, but instead opt to leave. We have used high-speed videography
followed by 3D reconstruction of flight trajectories to quantify how
female Eristalis hoverflies respond to approaching bees, wasps and two
different hoverfly species. We found that in 94% of the interactions the
occupant female left the flower when approached by another insect. We
found that compared to spontaneous take-offs, the occupant hoverfly's
escape response was performed at ca. 3 times higher speed (spontaneous
take-off at 0.2 +/- 0.05 m/s compared with 0.55 +/- 0.08 m/s when
approached by another Eristalis). The hoverflies tended to take off upward
and forward, while taking the incomer's approach angle into account.
Intriguingly, we found when approached by wasps that the occupant
Eristalis took off at a higher speed and when the wasp was further away.
This suggests that feeding hoverflies may be able to distinguish these
predators, demanding impressive visual capabilities. Our results,
including quantification of the visual information available before
occupant take-off, provide important insight into how freely behaving
hoverflies perform escape responses from competitors and predators (e.g.
wasps) in the wild.
Figure 1AA Prism file with the data in figure 1a.Figure 1B and Video
S1Matlab file.Figure 2BPrism file.Figure 3BPrism fileFigure 2APrism
fileFigure 3APrism fileFigure 4APrism fileFigure 4BPrism fileFigure
4CPrism fileFigure 4DPrism fileFigure S2Prism fileFigure 3C, D and
S1Matlab data and script showing the interactions in Figure 3C, D and S1.