Gibbons Matilda, Pasquini Elisa, Kowalewska Amelia, Read Eva, Gibson Sam, Crump Andrew, Solvi Cwyn, Versace Elisabetta, Chittka Lars
Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
School of Biological and Behavioral Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK.
iScience. 2024 Jul 2;27(8):110440. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110440. eCollection 2024 Aug 16.
It has been widely stated that insects do not show self-protective behavior toward noxiously-stimulated body parts, but this claim has never been empirically tested. Here, we tested whether an insect species displays a type of self-protective behavior: self-grooming a noxiously-stimulated site. We touched bumblebees () on an antenna with a noxiously heated (65°C) probe and found that, in the first 2 min after this stimulus, bees groomed their touched antenna more than their untouched antenna, and more than bees that were touched with an unheated probe or not touched at all did. Our results present evidence that bumblebees display self-protective behavior. We discuss the potential neural mechanisms of this behavior and the implications for whether insects feel pain.
人们普遍认为，昆虫不会对受到有害刺激的身体部位表现出自我保护行为，但这一说法从未得到实证检验。在此，我们测试了一种昆虫是否表现出一种自我保护行为：对受到有害刺激的部位进行自我梳理。我们用一个加热到有害温度（65°C）的探针触碰了熊蜂的一根触角，发现在此刺激后的最初2分钟内，蜜蜂梳理其被触碰触角的次数多于未被触碰的触角，也多于被未加热探针触碰或根本未被触碰的蜜蜂。我们的结果提供了证据表明熊蜂表现出自我保护行为。我们讨论了这种行为潜在的神经机制以及对昆虫是否能感知疼痛的影响。
