Heliconiini butterflies display flight behaviours reminiscent of orientation flights when using new floral sources

Despite their small brains, many insects form long-term memories of the spatial distribution of resources. To support this, some species display ‘orientation’ flights to increase capture of landscape cues around novel resources. The role of orientation behaviour in spatial learning has been broadly explored in Hymenoptera, which are well known to navigate between their nests and floral resources. Here, we describe exaggerated flight behaviours expressed in the foraging context in Heliconiini butterflies, resembling orientation behaviours in Hymenoptera. Heliconiini butterflies are of particular interest as they include the genus Heliconius, which is reported to have a greater capacity for spatial memory in association with a novel dietary strategy of pollen feeding, including formation of stable foraging routes. We hypothesised that these flight behaviours we observe may provide a strategy to memorize the location of floral resources. We compared Heliconius and non-Heliconius butterflie..., Behavioural experiments were performed in an experimental cage with a group of 6 butterflies of a single species each time. We used two species of Heliconius, H. erato and H. melpomene, and, for comparison purposes, two closely related species that do not feed on pollen, Dryas iulia and Dryadula phaetusa. Behavioural video footage was analysed using BORIS software (Behavioural Observation Research Interactive Software, Friard and Gamba 2016).
Experimental procedure
Experiments were performed in an experimental cage (3 m x 3 m x 2 m, Figure S1) with a group of 6 butterflies of a single species each time. Individuals were marked and sexed to allow individual identification. The food resource available in the cage consisted of three pots of flowering plants: Stachytarpheta mutabilis and/or Pentas lanceolata, sparsely positioned in the cage (Figure S1). These plant species are well known to attract butterflies, are regularly used to feed Heliconiini butterflies, and provide both nectar..., # Heliconiini butterflies display flight behaviours reminiscent of orientation flights when using new floral sources

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.n2z34tnb4](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n2z34tnb4)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: artificial_flower_07march2025.txt

**Description:** Artificial feeders data processed with Boris.

##### Variables

* \"species\" (name of the observed species), \"sex\" (male or female), \"ind_id\" (individual identification), \"day\" (day of the experiment), \"week\" (group of individuals tested in the same week), \"date\" (date of the video recording), \"sugar\" (with sugar water or empty), \"behavior\" (behaviors described above), \"Total_occur\" (number of events), \"Total_duration\" (total duration of the event in seconds), \"Duration_mean\" (mean of duration in seconds).

#### File: circular_27sep2024.txt

**Description:** The behaviour of circular flight was analysed using the below-view videos with Boris.

##### Variables
...,