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  • Honeybee <i>Apis mellifera</i> workers on partly capped brood frame
Chair of Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology

Archive

Glossy Flowers: An Enticing Call from afar, a Mystery up close

11/26/2025
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Glossy flowers are visible to bees from a distance, but make color recognition difficult up close. They thus represent a visual compromise of nature, as a new study by the University of Würzburg shows.

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Two new ERC Starting Grants approved

09/04/2025
 ERC Starting Grants were awarded to: Jerome Beetz and Jacqueline Degen. (Image: Robert Emmerich / Thomas Hovestadt)

Two researchers from the Würzburg Biocentre have been awarded prestigious grants for their projects: The European Research Council's Starting Grants are worth €1.5 million each.

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When Beetles See Red

06/16/2025
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Hardly any insects can see the colour red. However, two beetle species from the Mediterranean region are an exception, as an international research team has discovered.

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Desert ants use the polarity of the geomagnetic field for navigation

12/06/2024
Pauline Fleischmann during field research in Greece.

Many animals orient themselves using their sense of magnetism. However, this can be based on different physical mechanisms. A research team from Oldenburg and Würzburg has now investigated the navigation of the desert ant.

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Honeybees: Combinations of Pesticides Can be Dangerous

09/09/2024
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Dangerous mixtures: pesticides in combination can have unexpected effects on the development of honeybees. This is shown by a new study from the Biocenter.

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Bumblebees don't care about pesticide cocktails

04/15/2024
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In their natural environment, wild bees are exposed to various pesticides that can have a potentially toxic effect. A study by the University of Würzburg has now shown that bumblebees are relatively resistant to these products.

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Desert Ants: The Magnetic Field Calibrates the Navigation System

02/13/2024
The desert ant Cataglyphis nodus at its nest entrance.

Desert ants find their way during an early learning phase with the help of the Earth's magnetic field. The associated learning process leaves clear traces in their nervous system. This is shown in a new study by a Würzburg research team.

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With head and leg to the beautiful cut

07/07/2023
A typical behaviour: When the leafcutter ant Atta sexdens cuts pieces of leaves, it holds onto the leaf edge with its hind legs to determine the size of the cut.

How do leafcutter ants measure the size of the leaf pieces they cut off? A study by the University of Würzburg now provides answers.

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Better vision through movement

06/07/2023
Left: A walking bumblebee with increased temperature of the chest and head area. Right: A sitting bumblebee with lower, constant temperature. The electrical responses of the eye in the middle show that the bumblebee processes visual stimuli faster while walking than while sitting.

When bumblebees move, their vision improves. Scientists at the University of Würzburg have now been able to prove this.

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Flower Patterns Make Bumblebees More Efficient

01/18/2023
Bumblebees foraging on flowers

The search for nectar costs insects a lot of energy, so they have to be as efficient as possible. Colourful patterns on the petals can help with that.

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How many ants are there?

09/19/2022
Ants are usually found in large numbers. But how many of them are there in total on earth?

Have you ever asked yourself this question? A team led by Würzburg biologists Dr. Patrick Schultheiss and Dr. Sabine Nooten now has the answer. In addition to the number, the distribution was also determined.

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Sun Compass on Demand

11/24/2021
A tethered flying monarch butterfly orients in the flight simulator with respect to a green light spot. While flying, microelectrodes record the butterflies’ brain activity.

Monarch butterflies employ a sun compass on their long-distance migration. Surprisingly, a new study shows that the compass is only established during flight.

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Bright Lights, Bad Orientation

07/29/2021
A nocturnal dung beetle climbing atop its dung ball to survey the stars before starting to roll.

Light pollution makes it difficult for dung beetles to find their way. This is probably also true for other nocturnal insects and birds, as researchers suspect.

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An Atlas of the Bumblebee Brain

06/28/2021
A buff-tailed bumblebee and a 3D model of the bumblebee brain, based on micro-CT. The blue regions symbolise the primary olfactory centres. The yellow/orange regions process visual information from the compound eyes, the turquoise coloured visual information from the ocelli. Shown in red/orange are the mushroom bodies important for learning. The insects' inner compass, the central complex, is green.

A three-dimensional atlas of the bumblebee brain is now available. It will allow to even better research how nerve cells are interconnected and how they process information.

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A Divided Visual Field

03/23/2021
Measurements have shown how the hummingbird hawkmoth uses optic flow for flight control and orientation.

How do hawkmoths use visual patterns in different parts of their visual field? While researching this question, a team from the Würzburg Biocentre experienced a surprise.

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