title: Visual control of prey-capture flight in dragonflies.
abstract: Interacting with a moving object poses a computational problem for an animal's nervous system. This problem has been elegantly solved by the dragonfly, a formidable visual predator on flying insects. The dragonfly computes an interception flight trajectory and steers to maintain it during its prey-pursuit flight. This review summarizes current knowledge about pursuit behavior and neurons thought to control interception in the dragonfly. When understood, this system has the potential for explaining how a small group of neurons can control complex interactions with moving objects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308, USA. olbergr@union.edu
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Olberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005426:Flight, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D007313:Insecta / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*