ABSTRACT
Swarms are generally agreed to consist of large numbers of small animals, usually arthropods, which have come together in a more or less dense mass and which to the casual observer give the impression of purposeful organization. Surprisingly, there is very little in the literature on the swarm flight behavior of bees, and little is known of swarm flight behavior in ants or termites. Apparently cohesive swarms are aggregations of flying insects orientated to some external feature, but not as a direct result of any behavioral interaction between individuals. Many small dipterans, notably mosquitoes and chironomids, form distinctive quasistationary swarms. The swarming behavior of locusts has attracted attention from very early times, mainly because of the dramatic and often catastrophic effects vast numbers of these insects can have on man’s agricultural systems. Swarming adult locusts remain together throughout the day and roost communally at night.
