Plume-dependent Active Sensing in Honey Bees

Active sensing: Different plume structures affect movements of antennae in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Christopher M. Jernigan, Erin Connor, Hong Lei, Jonathan D. Victor, John P. Crimaldi, and Brian H. Smith

J. Exp. Biol., accepted (2026)

Abstract

Insects move their antennae to actively sense their environment. Regarding olfaction, it is not clear how these movements might be optimized for sampling the odor environment. Honey bees have movable rod-like antennae the last of segment of which contains several thousand pore plate sensillae that contain dendrites of olfactory sensory neurons. Walking honey bees typically move antennae in an almost constant manner. These movements can be impacted by odor valence, either innate or learned, suggesting that these movements are under sensory control. However, it is unclear if these movements are under active control or are simply fixed responses to stimulation. Here we evaluated antennal movements of stationary bees when placed in odor plumes with different structures. Antennae took up on average two different positions both in the absence and presence of odor in the plume. One corresponded to upwind and toward the odor source. The other position was across the plume. Bees rapidly switched between positions both in the presence and absence of odor. The frequency of forward and lateral positioning depended on the presence/absence of odor and on the structure of the plume, which suggests that movement is involved in sensing of odor filaments. We conclude that these movements represent active sensing, analogous to sniffing in mammals. Future investigations need to focus on the connection between antennal movements and physiological sensing as well as on analyses of odor-driven antennal movements in freely moving bees. Our results also suggest that active sensing may differ across insects with different antennal morphologies.

Download

Home Page for NSF IdeasLab Olfactory Navigation Project

Return to publications list