Optimal multiguidance integration in insect navigation

Significance The discovery of “place cells,” “grid cells,” and other spatial cells in the rodent’s forebrain has strengthened the idea that animals navigate their home range environments thanks to a “cognitive map.” Tiny-brained insects, like bees, are also thought to use such a centralized metric mental representation. However, downstream optimal combination of two decentralized guidance routines suffices to explain multiple experimental results obtained in bees and ants. We show that these insect navigators behave analogously to particles oriented by a global elastic force and local magnetic forces directed to the goal. As if equipped with both Ariadne’s thread and Hansel-and-Gretel’s pebbles, insects seem to know where to go rather than where they are on a map.