School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
Anim Cogn. 2021 Nov;24(6):1153-1164. doi: 10.1007/s10071-021-01513-4. Epub 2021 Apr 12.
Spatial orientation is important for animals to forage, mate, migrate, and escape certain threats, and can require simple to complex cognitive abilities and behaviours. As these behaviours are more difficult to experimentally test in vertebrates, considerable research has focussed on investigating spatial orientation in insects. However, the majority of insect spatial orientation research tends to focus on a few taxa of interest, especially social insects. Beetles present an interesting insect group to study in this respect, due to their diverse taxonomy and biology, and prevalence as agricultural pests. In this article, I review research on beetle spatial orientation. Then, I use this synthesis to discuss mechanisms beetles employ in the context of different behaviours that require orientation or navigation. I conclude by discussing two future avenues for behavioural research on this topic, which could lead to more robust conclusions on how species in this diverse order are able to traverse through a wide variety of environments.
空间定位对于动物觅食、交配、迁徙和逃避某些威胁至关重要，可能需要简单到复杂的认知能力和行为。由于这些行为在脊椎动物中更难进行实验测试，因此大量研究集中在昆虫的空间定位上。然而，大多数昆虫空间定位研究倾向于关注少数几个感兴趣的类群，尤其是社会性昆虫。甲虫作为一个有趣的昆虫类群，在这方面具有研究价值，因为它们具有多样化的分类学和生物学，并且普遍存在于农业害虫中。在本文中，我回顾了甲虫空间定位的研究。然后，我利用这种综合方法来讨论甲虫在不同需要定向或导航的行为中所采用的机制。最后，我讨论了这个主题的行为研究的两个未来途径，这可能会使我们更深入地了解这个多样化的目昆虫如何能够在各种各样的环境中穿行。
