Meeting Abstract
Cataglyphis fortis ants forage individually for dead arthropods in the inhospitable salt-pans of Tunisia. Locating the inconspicuous nest after a foraging run of more than 1000 meters demands a remarkable orientation capability. As a result of high temperatures and the unpredictable distribution of food, Cataglyphis ants do not lay pheromone trails. Instead, path integration is the fundamental system of long-distance navigation. This system constantly informs a foraging ant about its position relative to the nest. In addition, the ants rely on visual landmarks as geocentric navigational cues to finally pinpoint the nest entrance. Here I show that – apart from its visual navigation – Cataglyphis a) uses environmentally derived olfactory cues in order to locate its nest entrance. b) exhibits far-reaching crosswind runs to localize food plumes efficiently. c) benefits from the combinatorial use of visual and olfactory information. Because of its visual and olfactory navigation capabilities, Cataglyphis represents a valuable model for the investigation of crossmodal processing.
