AUTHOR=Chakravarthi Aravin , Baird Emily , Dacke Marie , Kelber Almut 

TITLE=Spatial Vision in Bombus terrestris

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/behavioral-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00017

DOI=10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00017

ISSN=1662-5153

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Bombus terrestris</italic> is one of the most commonly used insect models to investigate visually guided behavior and spatial vision in particular. Two fundamental measures of spatial vision are spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity. In this study, we report the threshold of spatial resolution in <italic>B. terrestris</italic> and characterize the contrast sensitivity function of the bumblebee visual system for a dual choice discrimination task. We trained bumblebees in a Y-maze experimental set-up to associate a vertical sinusoidal grating with a sucrose reward, and a horizontal grating with absence of a reward. Using a logistic psychometric function, we estimated a resolution threshold of 0.21 cycles deg<sup>−1</sup> of visual angle. This resolution is in the same range but slightly lower than that found in honeybees (<italic>Apis mellifera</italic> and <italic>A. cerana</italic>) and another bumblebee species (<italic>B. impatiens</italic>). We also found that the contrast sensitivity of <italic>B. terrestris</italic> was 1.57 for the spatial frequency 0.090 cycles deg<sup>−1</sup> and 1.26 for 0.18 cycles deg<sup>−1</sup>.</p>