Migrating Bogong moths navigate by the stars.

Comments on an article by David Dreyer et al. (see record 2026-44878-014). Dreyer et al. expand the sensory toolbox deployed by Bogong moths to include celestial cues in the night sky, including the stars. The discovery of a stellar compass in Bogong moths is extraordinary because such an ability would seem to require a visual acuity beyond what one would intuitively think an insect would be capable of. Indeed, previously, only birds and humans, with their high-acuity visual systems, have been convincingly shown to use the stars as a compass to select and maintain movement direction. Dreyer et al. relied on a clever combination of testing apparatus, a flight simulator, and behavioral assay using hundreds of captive, tethered Bogong moths to first investigate their ability to orient their tethered flights in a seasonally appropriate direction. Following the behavioral-sensory demonstration of a stellar compass, the study laudably turns to a first assessment of underlying neural implementation by recording the spatial-tuning, response properties of neurons in three brain regions known to encode spatially meaningful information in other insects: the optic lobe, central complex, and lateral accessory lobes. However, there were several elements of the neural recording work that were less satisfying, and the authors justifiably acknowledge that the data reported are only a departure point for a more thorough, subsequent study. One important issue not addressed in the current study is how distance may be encoded in the navigational system of Bogong moths. As impressive as a stellar compass guiding Bogong moth migration may be, it needs to be acknowledged that, like the companion geomagnetic compass, both orientation mechanisms appear to be genetically engineered into the nervous system and not amenable to change by learning. What is clear is that the Bogong moth will continue to be an important model species in conversations about the broad question of how animals navigate global space. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).