DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.25780197.v2
title: Raw Data for Figures 2-5 in the manuscript <i>Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night </i>by Dreyer et al. 2025.

description: The four Excel files respectively show the raw data underpinning Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the following manuscript: Dreyer, D., Adden, A., Chen, H., Frost, B.J., Mouritsen, H., Xu, J., Green, K.P., Whitehouse, M., Chahl, J., Wallace, J., Hu, G., Foster, J., Heinze, S. and Warrant, E.J. (2025). Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night.The Excel files for Figures 2 and 3 contain the raw data used to create the circular plots show in these figures. This data shows the mean directions and r-values of individual Bogong moths flown in a flight arena under the Australian starry night sky.The raw data for Figure 2, for moths flown in the open under a natural night sky, show the mean directions and r-values of 95 moths flown earlier and later in the evening under clear skies, and of 44 moths flown under overcast skies.The raw data for Figure 3, for moths flown in controlled lab conditions under a projected night sky and in a nulled geomagnetic field, show the mean directions and r-values of moths from Spring and Autumn subjected to natural, natural rotated (by 180°) and randomised starry skies (with statistics).The Excel files for Figures 4 and 5 show the raw data obtained from stellar compass neurons in the Bogong moth brain.The Excel file for Figure 4 consists of 5 sheets, one for each panel (a-e). The raw data for Figure 4a shows the frequency of action potentials (in impulses/s) of four cells responding to a rotating starry sky (clockwise CW or counterclockwise CCW) at each angular position of the sky (1°- 360°), including the standard deviation on each value (SD). The raw data for Figure 4b shows the tuning angle (<i>φ</i><sub>max</sub>) at which each of our stellar compass neurons responded maximally under a rotating starry sky (in bimodal cells there were two such angles). The raw data for Figure 4c shows the variability in <i>φ</i><sub>max</sub> for successive CW or CCW sky rotations in all of our individual cells (given as circular standard deviation in degrees). The raw data for Figure 4d shows <i>φ</i><sub>max</sub> values for dot and bar control stimuli in a sub-set of unimodal and bimodal cells as well as for the angular difference between a cell’s <i>φ</i><sub>max</sub> for dot/bar stimuli and its <i>φ</i><sub>max</sub> for the starry sky. The raw data for Figure 4e shows signal-to-noise ratio values calculated for all of our individual cells derived from their responses to the Starry sky, randomised stars (Control), Dot and Bar stimuli. Response signal-to-noise ratio is the maximum response during sky rotation (i.e. at <i>φ</i>=<i>φ</i><sub>max</sub>) divided by the standard error of the mean before rotation (calculated for each stimulus separately). The Excel file for Figure 5 consists of 2 sheets, one for Figure 5b and one for Figure 5c. The raw data for Figure 5b shows the frequency of action potentials (in impulses/s) for each of the three cells in response to a rotating starry sky and a control of rotating randomised stars (clockwise CW or counterclockwise CCW) at each angular position of the sky (1°- 360°), including the standard deviation on that value (SD). The raw data for Figure 5c shows the peak tuning directions (<i>φ</i><sub>max</sub>) of the three cells following multiple CW and CCW sky rotations (the rotation angle when cellular firing frequency was maximal), and corresponding moth headings (in degrees).