Department of Biology, Lund Vision Group, University of Lund, 223 62 Lund, Sweden.
Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Sanderring 2, 97070 Würzburg, Germany.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2022 Oct 24;377(1862):20210291. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0291. Epub 2022 Sep 5.
Ants are ecologically one of the most important groups of insects and exhibit impressive capabilities for visual learning and orientation. Studies on numerous ant species demonstrate that ants can learn to discriminate between different colours irrespective of light intensity and modify their behaviour accordingly. However, the findings across species are variable and inconsistent, suggesting that our understanding of colour vision in ants and what roles ecological and phylogenetic factors play is at an early stage. This review provides a brief synopsis of the critical findings of the past century of research by compiling studies that address molecular, physiological and behavioural aspects of ant colour vision. With this, we aim to improve our understanding of colour vision and to gain deeper insights into the mysterious and colourful world of ants. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding colour vision: molecular, physiological, neuronal and behavioural studies in arthropods'.
蚂蚁在生态学上是最重要的昆虫类群之一，具有令人印象深刻的视觉学习和定向能力。对许多蚂蚁物种的研究表明，蚂蚁可以学习区分不同的颜色，而不受光照强度的影响，并相应地改变它们的行为。然而，不同物种的研究结果存在差异和不一致，这表明我们对蚂蚁的颜色视觉以及生态和系统发育因素所起的作用的理解还处于早期阶段。本综述通过整合研究蚂蚁颜色视觉的分子、生理和行为方面的研究，简要概述了过去一个世纪的研究成果。我们的目标是增进对颜色视觉的理解，并深入了解蚂蚁神秘而多彩的世界。本文是主题为“理解颜色视觉：节肢动物的分子、生理、神经元和行为研究”的一部分。
