New paper from the lab 🎉🚨 We found that hummingbird hawkmoths show lateralised proboscis control on both the sensory and motor sides. 🦋 How plastic is this lateralised visuo-motor axis when sensory input is perturbed? Find out more 👇

Lochlan W@lochlanw.bsky.social · 2w ago

🚨🦋 Thrilled to share my first PhD paper published in PNAS this week, in collaboration with Sören Kannegieser and @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social @insect-vision.bsky.social: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... We found hawkmoths use a convergent visual control strategy for appendage guidance. 👁️🫳 🧵 below.

Congratulations to Anupama @manel-a-pama.bsky.social, who won the Poster Prize at the annual biology Poster Session! She will also bring her poster to #ICN26 in Vancouver, so stay tuned 🦋🌸 @neuroethology.org

New paper from the lab 🎉 We compared learning across differential conditioning paradigms in the hummingbird hawkmoth and, surprisingly, associations were worse with strong negative reinforcements. Find out how reinforcements like quinine interfere with learning in these hawkmoths 👇

Anupama Manel@manel-a-pama.bsky.social · last mo.

Stronger punishments get better results? Not for this hawkmoth 👀🚫 Check out our new paper where we link sensory ecology to colour discrimination learning in an insect pollinator. Shout out to co-authors @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social and @jjfosterlab.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.an...

I am thrilled to share my second PhD manuscript! We modelled bee polarisation vision and tested two navigational models. Many thanks to @jjfosterlab.bsky.social and all our collaborators (@egkanias.bsky.social,@edinburgh-uni.bsky.social,@insectlabsu.bsky.social) for such a productive collaboration!

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 2mo ago

From eye anatomy to navigation: a biologically accurate model of bees polarisation vision https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.01.729196v1

Dancing with the stars? No! Bees dance with the sun, but only if it is made of bright UV or green light 🐝🌞🕺 New research by @jjfosterlab.bsky.social ‬ 👇👇

@jjfosterlab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Do bright lights change how you dance? 🔆💃 Waggle-dancing honeybees interpret bright UV & green as the sun, but dim UV as a patch of sky. Thanks Keram Pfeiffer @uni-wuerzburg.de for trusting me with your data & @jgraving.bsky.social for the circular GLMM. doi.org/10.21203/rs....

New paper out on the decision strategies of bumblebees. When using visual cues to make flower choices, they switch strategy with sensory context, learning as much as necessary, but as little as possible. Based on their training time, we propose a mechanism for this switch. tinyurl.com/2r9d4jrs 🌸🐝🧠

Bees flexibly adjust decision strategies to information content in a foraging task

Bumblebees flexibly adjust their learning strategies to the sensory challenge, balancing costs and benefits of multicue learning.

tinyurl.com

Universität Konstanz@uni-konstanz.de · 5mo ago

During their search for food, most insects head specifically for the flowers that promise the highest reward. Researchers from the #UniKonstanz and the @uni-wuerzburg.de have now studied how bumblebees process information about their food sources. Full story: t1p.de/mndcd

During their search for food, most insects head specifically for the flowers that promise the highest reward. Researchers from the #UniKonstanz and the @uni-wuerzburg.de have now studied how bumblebees process information about their food sources. Full story: t1p.de/mndcd

Excited to share my first PhD preprint! w/ Sören Kannegieser and @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social @insect-vision.bsky.social We investigated how hawkmoths coordinate lateralized sensory and motor control for appendage guidance, revealing similar control principles to vertebrates doi.org/10.64898/202...

New paper from the lab, led by @ronjabigge.bsky.social, in collaboration with Kentaro Arikawa. We reconcile contrast and spatial processing functions of lamina monopolar cells by integrating 3D morphology, connectivity and neurophysiology in the hummingbird hawkmoth. tinyurl.com/mvnh3325 For more 👇

Visiting the Merz Akademie in Stuttgart for our science-art collaboration with the Akademie and @zukunftskolleg.bsky.social Konstanz. Excited to see the final student projects inspired by vision in insects after this field trip!

Season's Greetings from the Lab in our most - Christmas party award winning !! - festive attire. 🎄👼🐮👑🐑⭐ With animalistic support from @jjfosterlab.bsky.social Happy holidays and a great start into the New Year to you all! extra Christmassy stars to anyone who guesses what we are 😉

We had a rather unexpected presenter at our lab meeting this morning 😄🪲🎓

New work from our neighbours @jjfosterlab.bsky.social lab with lead ‪@gkolyfetis.bsky.social‬ - check out their findings on the coupling of #photoreceptors in different #bee species 🐝👇👇

George Kolyfetis@gkolyfetis.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Our findings on bees' photoreceptors are now officially published in Biology Letters of the Royal Society Publishing!! Thanks again for a productive collaboration @jjfosterlab.bsky.social and @gregoeur.bsky.social !! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Our findings on bees' photoreceptors are now officially published in Biology Letters of the Royal Society Publishing!! Thanks again for a productive collaboration @jjfosterlab.bsky.social and @gregoeur.bsky.social !! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

George Kolyfetis@gkolyfetis.bsky.social · last yr.

I'm really happy to share the first preprint of my PhD work in @jjfosterlab.bsky.social! During a fruitful collaboration with @gregoeur.bsky.social, we uncovered a surprising feature of bees' eyes! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#ABL2025 Plenary Spotlight: Dr Anna Stöckl @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social ⭐ Join us on Nov 13-14 to learn how Dr Stöckl’s team @insect-vision.bsky.social unravelled the fascinating ways in which pollinators see the hidden patterns of flowers.🦋🌻 Learn more about the conference: ablaoc25.sciencesconf.org

New work from the lab - final version out: #parallel #processing #optic_flow #flight #vision In hummingbird hawkmoth flight control, natural input prevalence shapes the visual field partitioning of two parallel pathways, but safety relevance determines the integration hierarchy. tinyurl.com/bdfsxea2

Integration of parallel pathways for flight control in a hawkmoth reflects prevalence and relevance of natural visual cues

In vision-based flight control of hummingbird hawkmoths, the visual field partitions by natural cue prevalence into an optic flow and dorsal directional pathway, which integrate according to their rel...

elifesciences.org

Check out the newest episode of our podcast "In the Swarm"! Have you ever wondered how tiny insects navigate the world? In this episode, @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social explains how the tiny but mighty insect brain controls behaviour of stunning complexity. www.exc.uni-konstanz.de/collective-b...

Float like a hawkmoth and drink like one too! What better way to understand insect behaviour? 🍹🦋🍹 An exciting evening of science outreach by the lake, by @cbehav.bsky.social ‪‪‪@excinequality.bsky.social‬ With moth impersonators: @emmarusconi.bsky.social @manel-a-pama.bsky.social ky.social‬

We couldn't be prouder - the first PhD student from our group just defended!🎓✨ Huge congratulations to Ronja on an amazing thesis and a well-earned title. Cheers to you, Dr. Bigge🥂🦋

@ronjabigge.bsky.social · last yr.

I did it😭 I'm thrilled, relieved, and so excited to announce that I have successfully defended my PhD! Endless thanks to everyone who supported me along the way - mentors, labmates, friends, and family. I couldn't have done it without you❤️ #PhDone

So many features…so little time: bumblebees show optimization of cue integration in a memory task. 🐝🐝 Really entertaining #preLight prepared by Tim Schwanitz & Cemre Coskun in which they highlight recent work from @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social & team ⬇️ 👀 prelights.biologists.com/highlights/b...

Bumblebees flexibly adjust learning and decision strategies to sensory information content in a foraging task - preLights

so many features…so little time: bumblebees show optimization of cue integration in a memory task.

prelights.biologists.com

We are excited to have Aruna visit our lab over the summer as part of her PhD! She is investigating how hawkmoths actively shape their flight trajectories to better sense the spatial layout of their environment while working towards a 3D tracking system to accurately capture their movement!

Welcome to the LAB: Emma Rusconi @emmarusconi.bsky.social We are excited that Emma has recently joined us as a research assistant! She is currently investigating how bumblebees generalize visual patterns, and will soon investigate how nocturnal moths navigate in different light conditions.

New review about "Path integration and optic flow in flying insects" doi.org/10.1007/s003.... One of the questions asked, where in the visual field insects perceive optic flow, is addressed and discussed in our recent work: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu... doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Welcome to the LAB: Farhan Rafique Shah @arha2.bsky.social Farhan joined the team this year to pursue his #PhD . He will study natural and polluted light environments, and how these are perceived by nocturnal moths. To learn more, check out his page: (www.insect-vision.com/farhan-shah)

Big Cheers to @ronjabigge.bsky.social who is submitting her PhD thesis today 🍾🥳.

We had a fantastic #retreat in the Black Forest together with @jjfosterlab.bsky.social and Nouvian labs. We escaped rooms, worked on laboratory code of conduct, went hiking, learned about first aid, data visualisation and pose estimation, brainstormed science and went wild playing games!

Hawkmoths exploring new spaces - what a wonderful location for a talk about night vision in insects 🦋✨. Thank you #Kortizes and Planetarium #Nürnberg for the invitation and the great organisation. An extra big thank you to the wonderful audience!! 🙏 @jjfosterlab.bsky.social for the 📸

Anna Stöckl@anna-stoeckl.bsky.social · last yr.

Fantastische Location für einen Vortrag über das nächtliche Sehvermögen der Insekten mit einem wunderbaren Publikum! Vielen Dank an Kortizes und das Planetarium #Nürnberg für die Einladung und die tolle Organisation. 🙏 @jjfosterlab.bsky.social für die 📸

Looking for any new year's resolutions? How about submitting a paper to a special issue: #Neuroethology of #Lepidoptera ↘️https://link.springer.com/collections/ccdhceiegi↙️ edited by @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social, Kentaro Arikawa and Basil el Jundi 🦋🧠

🎄🎁🎄We're celebrating another buzzing year at the insect vision lab. Season's greetings and a happy new year from our hive to yours 🎉🦋🐝🎉 #Moths #Happyholidays

Ever wondered how to move a tongue the length of your body to some yummy food? Tanvi Deora & I summarised what is known about the most elegant of tongue-waggling - the sensorimotor control of the hawkmoth proboscis - in a recent review in ICB t.ly/gZDHX 🦋😛

The Hawkmoth Proboscis: An Insect Model for Sensorimotor Control of Reaching and Exploration

Synopsis. Reaching and inspecting objects is an intricate part of human life, which is shared by a diversity of animals across phyla. In addition to append

t.ly