DOI: 10.5061/dryad.rv15dv4fm
title: Data from: Innate floral object identification in a solitary pollinator employs a combination of both visual and olfactory cues

description: Object identification is fundamental to animal behaviour, and identifying
 nutritive objects is key for survival. Solitary insects emerging far from
 food sources and without access to social learning must therefore employ
 innate identification of food cues to locate relevant nutritive objects
 from a distance. Such innate preferences for food cues should be both
 specific enough to allow discrimination between food and non-food objects
 and general enough to allow for the variety of food objects relevant to
 the insect species. Here, we examined innate floral object identification
 behaviour in solitary generalist insect pollinator Eristalinus aeneus
 using an artificial floral object with both visual and olfactory cues
 previously found to be attractive to several hoverfly species across
 multiple environments. We used a subtractive two choice assay to present
 flower-naïve E. aeneus with a choice between this object and a similar
 object that differed in either a single visual or olfactory cue. We found
 that innate floral choices of the hoverfly E. aeneus are a product of
 broad, plant-based olfactory cues and visual cues, where a combination of
 radial symmetry and reflectance in the 300–400 nm and
 500–700 nm wavelength range was particularly important for innate
 floral object preference. Our study, therefore, shows how solitary animals
 without prior experience can efficiently employ multimodal cues to
 identify multiple relevant nutritive objects.
description: # Data from: Innate floral object identification in a solitary pollinator
 employs a combination of both visual and olfactory cues Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.rv15dv4fm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rv15dv4fm) ##
 Description of the data and file structure A. These Datasets are from a
 study aimed at understanding the innate floral choices of hoverfly
 Eristalinus aeneus.      B. PUBLICATION CITATION: Mishra, A., Jain, A.,
 Iyer, P.S. *et al.* Innate floral object identification in a solitary
 pollinator employs a combination of both visual and olfactory cues. *Sci
 Nat* **112**, 18 (2025).
 [https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-025-01965-5](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-025-01965-5) C. AUTHOR INFORMATION:            Aditi Mishra^1^  · Anupreksha Jain^2^  · Padmapriya S. Iyer^3^  · Ashwin Suryanarayanan^1^  · Karin Nordström^4,5^  · Shannon B. Olsson^1,6^ 1.  Naturalist‑Inspired Chemical Ecology, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India 560065 2\. Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA 3\. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India 500046 4\. Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden 5\. Flinders Health, and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia 6\. The echo network, Danish Academy of Technical Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark        D. CORRESPONDENCE: Aditi Mishra, Shannon B. Olsson, e-mail: : [aditi@nicelab.science](mailto:aditi@nicelab.science), [shannon@nicelab.science](mailto:shannon@nicelab.science) E. DATE OF DATA COLLECTION: MAY 2017 - FEB 2022  F. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF DATA COLLECTION: National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India – 560065     G. KEYWORDS: colour vision, olfaction, template matching, behavioural ecology, neuroethology            H. FUNDING SOURCE: We acknowledge the support provided by Stiftelsen Olle Engkvist Byggmästare, Sweden (grant numbers 2014/254, 2016/348); and NCBS-TIFR funding, Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India and a SERB Ramanujan Fellowship to S.B.O. under project no. 12-R&D-TFR-5.04-0800 and 12-R&D-TFR-5.04-0900.   ### Files and variables #### File: Dataset1.xlsx **Description:** TITLE OF DATASET: Normalised EAG values. This datasheet contains EAG response to floral volatiles normalised to the solvent (hexane) used in the study mentioned above.Sheet one contains the normalised deflection values for different dosages of the chemicals used in the study and Sheet two contains the normalised deflection for different concentrations of meta cresol with the sex of the flies used in the study. The EAG responses are recorded as dimensionless normalised deflection (mV/mV). ##### Variables * Acronyms used -         **CF**       coffee furanone **o**          positive odour blend o+ **GLV**     green leaf volatile **MC**      meta cresol **IA**         isoamyl acetate **F**          female **M**         male **NA**       Not available data points due to factors like insects dying, recording electrode losing contact or mechanical vibration etc. #### File: Dataset3.xlsx **Description:** TITLE OF DATASET: Rawdata of two choice assays. This Dataset is used to analyse differences in response to models used in the study using Binommial GLMM; ##### Variables * contains the following columns (in bold) for all the flies used in the study -\ **FLY_ID** = the unique identifier of the fly; **experiment** = the assay conducted and information on which model is assigned model1 and which model is assigned model2; **Responder_Yes1_No0** = whether the fly responded in the assay or not ( responder = 1, non-responder = 0); **Response_Model1_Yes1_No0** = if the fly responded then, which model in the assay did it responded to ( if the model1 is responded to = 1, if model2 is responded to = 0); **batch** = which batch did this test animal belong to; **SEX_female1_male0** = sex of the fly (female = 1, male = 0); and **Response_landing0_directedflight1** = the response of the tested fly (landing = 0, directed flight 1). * Acronyms used - \ **FLY_ID** = the unique identifier of the fly; **experiment** = the assay conducted and information on which model is assigned model1 and which model is assigned model2; **Responder_Yes1_No0** = whether the fly responded in the assay or not ( responder = 1, non-responder = 0); **Response_Model1_Yes1_No0** = if the fly responded then, which model in the assay did it responded to ( if the model1 is responded to = 1, if model2 is responded to = 0); **batch** = which batch did this test animal belong to; **SEX_female1_male0** = sex of the fly (female = 1, male = 0); and **Response_landing0_directedflight1** = the response of the tested fly (landing = 0, directed flight 1). (assay1;model1=v+o+;model2=v-o-) = assay1 in the manuscript (assay2;model1=v+o+;model2=v+o- = assay2 in the manuscript (assay3;model1=v+o+;model2=v-o+ = assay3 in the manuscript (assay4;model1=v+o+;model2=gray+o+) =assay4 in the manuscript (assay5;model1=v+o+_L,model2=v+o+_R) = assay5 in the manuscript      (assay6;model1=v+o+;model2=Blue+o+) = assay6 in the manuscript (assay7;model1=v+o+;model2=v+GLV) = assay7 in the manuscript (assay8;model1=v+o+;model2=White+o+) = assay8 in the manuscript (assay9;model1=v+o+;model2=v+1%o+) = assay9 in the manuscript (assay10;model1=v+o+;model2=v+CF) = assay10 in the manuscript (assay11;model1=v+o+;model2=v+IA) = assay11 in the manuscript (assay12;model1=v+o+;model2=asymmetric+o+) = assay 12 in the manuscript (assay13;model1=v+o+;model2=LR+o+) = assay13 in the manuscript (assay14;model1=v+o+;model2=Hexagonal+o+) = assay14 in the manuscript (assay15;model1=LR+o+;model2=Blue+o+) = assay15 in the manuscript (assay16;model1=v+1%o+;model2=v+1%GLV) = assay16  in the manuscript (assay17;model1=v+MC;model2=v-MC) = assay17 in the manuscript (assay18;model1=v+o+;model2=v+MC) = assay18 in the manuscript (assay19;model1=v+1%o+;model2=v+GLV) = assay19 in the manuscript (assay20;model1=v+o+;model2=v+1%GLV) = assay20 in the manuscript #### File: Dataset4.xlsx **Description:** spectral power distribution measurements. This datasheet contains spectral power distribution of models used in the study and of the background as a dimensionless percentage of the reflectance of the white balance (Labsphere certified reflectance standard USRS-99-010 AS-01158-060 S/N 99AA08-0615-3676) under the 5000 Lux LED lights used in the experimental setup (ORFLD-30W, Chromatic temperature 6500 K close to CIE standard illuminant D65 with a chromatic temperature of 6504 K). #### File: GCMS_traces.zip **Description:** Raw GCMS files for chemical analyses performed.  See README embedded in this directory. Agilent Chemstation compatible software required. Open-source alternatives using the existing files include [https://www.openchrom.net/](https://www.openchrom.net/) or conversion of the existing files to open format (e.g. mzML) using  [http://proteowizard.sourceforge.io/tools/msconvert.html](https://proteowizard.sourceforge.io/tools/msconvert.html)  ## Code/software #### File: Dataset2.1.txt **Description:** TITLE OF DATASET: SCRIPT1: R script for GLMM\ \#The working directory can be set according to convenience. \#requires version R 3.6.0+ or later.\ \ \# see file for additional details ##### Variables #### File: Dataset2.2.txt **Description:** TITLE OF DATASET: SCRIPT2 R script for analysis of sex differences in EAG responses to meta cresol\ \#The working directory can be set according to convenience. \#requires version R 3.6.0+ or later. \# see file for additional details ##### Variables ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * None Data was derived from the following sources: * See Description