insect behavior
How arthropods act
Insect behavior encompasses the actions and responses of insects to their environment—how they find food, communicate, reproduce, navigate, and defend themselves.
The field studies everything from a bee's waggle dance to a moth's attraction to light.
Researchers observed the insect behavior patterns of carpenter ants in decaying wood.
The term appears in entomology, ecology, and pest control contexts.
- hive mindUnified group consciousness
- pheromoneBehavior-altering bodily secretion
- courtship displaysBehaviors to attract mates
- cicada songInsect's mating call
- camouflageConcealment through visual blending
caste systems · flight patterns · scavenging · puddling · playing dead · sperm competition · oviposition · drumming · parthenogenesis · laying eggs · cannibalism · warning coloration · nest building · swarming · death spiral · thermoregulation · buzzing · mimicry
insect behaviorlearned behavior
Action acquired through experience
conditioned responses · adaptive learning · reflective thought · rational choice · trial-and-error learning