Bufftail Bumblebee (Western bumblebee): A recent study reveals that humans can determine foraging locations by analyzing variations in the length of visual cues.
The ability to process temporal information is essential for animal behaviors like foraging, mating, and avoiding predators. Although circadian rhythms are well-studied, there’s limited knowledge on how insects perceive durations in the second to subsecond range. Davidson and colleagues sought to assess the buff-tailed bumblebee’s (Western bumblebee) ability to distinguish between light flash durations in free-foraging tasks. Image credit: Miriam.
In Morse code, a brief flash or “dot” signifies the letter “E,” while a prolonged flash or “dash” indicates the letter “T.”
Previously, the capability to differentiate between “dots” and “dashes” was recognized solely in humans and certain vertebrates like macaques and pigeons.
Alex Davidson, a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London, and his team examined this ability in the Western bumblebee.
They designed a specialized maze to train the bumblebees to identify a sugar reward among two flashing circles, marked by long and short flashing intervals.
For instance, if a short flash, or “dot,” was linked with sugar, a long flash, or “dash,” would be associated with a bitter substance that bumblebees typically avoid.
Within each section of the maze, the locations of the “dot” and “dash” stimuli were altered, preventing the bumblebees from relying on spatial cues for their choices.
After mastering the task of approaching the flashing circles paired with sugar, the bumblebees were tested with flashing lights devoid of sugar, to determine if their selections were driven by visual cues instead of olfactory ones associated with sugar.
The results indicated that the bumblebees effectively learned to distinguish between light durations, as the majority headed straight to the “correct” blinking light duration that had been previously linked to sugar, irrespective of its spatial location.
“We aimed to investigate if bumblebees could distinguish among these various durations, and it was thrilling to observe them succeed,” Davidson noted.
“It’s astonishing that they excelled in this task, given that bumblebees encounter no blinking stimuli in their natural habitats.”
“The ability to track the duration of visual stimuli might imply enhanced temporal processing capabilities that have evolved for various functions, including spatial movement tracking or communication.”
“Alternatively, this impressive skill for encoding and processing time could be a fundamental feature of the nervous system, reflective of neuronal properties. Only further research can clarify this.”
The neural mechanisms that facilitate the tracking of these durations are still largely unclear. Current mechanisms known to align with solar cycles and seasonal changes are too slow to account for the distinction between dashes and dots of varying durations.
Numerous theories suggest the existence of either a singular or multiple biological clocks.
The revelation of insects’ capacity to differentiate between light flash durations will enable researchers to test various models using these “miniature brains” that measure less than a cubic millimeter.
“Numerous complex animal behaviors, including navigation and communication, rely on temporal processing capabilities,” comments researcher Elisabetta Versace from Queen Mary University of London.
“To explore the evolution of such abilities, adopting a comprehensive comparative approach across a range of species, including insects, is crucial.”
“Insect processing times highlight their utilization of minimal neural resources to accomplish complex tasks.”
“This insight holds implications for characteristics such as complex cognition in artificial neural networks, which should take cues from biological intelligence while striving for efficiency and scalability.”
This result was published in the Journal on November 12, 2025 in Biology Letters.
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Alexander Davidson et al. 2025. Bumblebee duration identification in the Western bumblebee. Biol. Let 21(11):20250440; doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0440
Source: www.sci.news
