The use of information provided by the geomagnetic field (GMF) for navigation is widespread across the animal kingdom. At the same time, the magnetic sense is one of the least understood senses. Here, we review evidence for magnetoreception in Hymenoptera. We focus on experiments aiming to shed light on the role of the GMF for navigation. Both honeybees and desert ants are well-studied experimental models for navigation, and both use the GMF for specific navigational tasks under certain conditions. Cataglyphis desert ants use the GMF as a compass cue for path integration during their initial learning walks to align their gaze directions towards the nest entrance. This represents the first example for the use of the GMF in an insect species for a genuine navigational task under natural conditions and with all other navigational cues available. We argue that the recently described magnetic compass in Cataglyphis opens up a new integrative approach to understand the mechanisms underlying magnetoreception in Hymenoptera on different biological levels.

整个动物界广泛使用地磁场（GMF）提供的信息进行导航。同时，磁感是最不被理解的感官之一。在这里，我们审查膜翅目中磁感受的证据。我们专注于旨在阐明GMF在导航中的作用的实验。蜜蜂和沙漠蚂蚁都是经过精心研究的导航实验模型，在特定条件下都将GMF用于特定的导航任务。刻纹沙漠蚂蚁在最初的学习步行过程中将GMF用作路径整合的指南针，以将其凝视方向对准巢穴入口。这代表了在自然条件下以及所有其他可用导航提示下，将GMF用于昆虫物种中以进行真正的导航任务的第一个示例。我们认为，最近在Cataglyphis中描述的磁罗经开辟了一种新的综合方法，以了解膜翅目在不同生物学水平上的磁感受机理。