Voronoi analysis of laboratory midge swarms

Unlike bird flocks, fish schools, or migratory herds, insect swarms do not possess either positional or orientational order. However, this does not imply that the structure of a swarm is completely random. Here, we analyze the structural properties of laboratory midge swarms not by considering the locations of the midges themselves but rather the properties of the negative space between them. By constructing Voronoi tessellations of swarms, we demonstrate that we can divide them into distinct concentric layers. We use this decomposition to study differences in the statistical properties of individuals in the bulk of the swarm versus those near its edges.