One thing that makes this difficult is the *purpose* of a pain response to injury is to prevent worse injury and to facilitate healing. If you have an internal skeleton and break a bone, not putting weight on the bone can help you to heal. With an exoskeleton the needs are different.
Ants will treat severed limbs with formic acid and other secretions to prevent blood infection in hemolymph. But they will cheerfully walk on the stump. There is nothing to be gained by limping.
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myrmepropagandist
In response to this post@fullyabstract
I think these vastly different responses to major trauma can make us think that they don't feel pain.
But if you've seen an ant whose messed with a beetle that has caustic secretions, they way she flinches away and cleans her antennae is more familiar ... it's how you'd react to something getting in your eye.
Is it all just "reflexes" ... and what do we mean by "just reflexes" anyway?
@futurebird Were you able to read the whole article yet? I would say the overall conclusion of the article is some insects are sentient
by Alley Stoughton ;
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