HighlightsBristles are extremely stiff and exhibit a high-aspectratio conical tubular structure Bristles uniformalize structural stress distributions and are robust to loading fatigue Bristled wings are light, using less power to achieve novel aerodynamic force production Bristled wings may bring an innovative design for bioinspired engineering microdevices
Tiny flight-capable insects such as thrips utilize a drag-based mechanism to generate a net vertical force to support their weight, owing to the low associated Reynolds number. Evaluating the drag generated by such small wings is of considerable significance to understand the flight of tiny insects. In this study, a self-sensing microcantilever was used to measure the drag force generated by an actual wing of a thrip. The wing of a thrip was attached to the tip of the microcantilever, and the microcantilever along with the wing was affixed perpendicular to a constant airflow at the middle of a bench-top wind tunnel. The drag generated by the wing under airflow velocities in the range of 0–4.8 m/s was obtained. In addition, the drag generated by the wing was verified by performing a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analysis. At a biological average wing tip velocity of 0.7 m/s, the difference between the measured drag force (290 nN) and calculated drag force (300 nN) was merely 3.3%. This new approach of evaluating the drag force generated by tiny insects could contribute to enhancing the understanding of microscale flight.
Body size is the most essential feature that significantly correlates with insects’ longevity, fecundity, metabolic rate, and sex ratio. Numerous biogeographical rules have been proposed to illustrate the correlation between the body sizes of different taxa and corresponding geographical or environmental factors. Whether the minute and multifarious chalcids exhibit a similar geographical pattern is still little known. In this research, we analyzed morphological data from 2953 specimens worldwide, including the two most abundant and diverse taxa (Pteromalidae and Eulophidae), which are both composed of field-collected and BOLD system specimens. We examined forewing length as a surrogate of body size and analyzed the average size separately for males and females using two methods (species and assemblage-based method). To verify Bergmann’s rule, we included temperature, precipitation, wind speed and solar radiation as explanatory variables in a generalized linear model to analyze the causes of the size variation. We found that there was an increasing trend in the body size of Pteromalidae and Eulophidae with altitude. The optimal Akaike information criterion (AIC) models showed that larger sizes are significantly negatively correlated with temperature and positively correlated with precipitation, and the possible reasons for this variation are discussed and analyzed.
Correction for ‘Impact of water quality parameters on bacteria inactivation by low-voltage electroporation: mechanism and control’ by Zheng-Yang Huo et al., Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2018, DOI: 10.1039/c8ew00041g.
The malthusi group of Coccophagus Westwood (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) is characterized by a densely setose mesoscutellum with the posterior apical pair of setae distinctly longer than others. In the present paper, two new species of the malthusi group are described from China: Coccophagus infuscatus sp. nov. and Coccophagus bandus sp. nov., both reared from species of Coccidae (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha). The type specimens are housed in Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IZCAS), Beijing, China.
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