A bite force database of 654 insect species

Abstract

Bite force is a decisive performance trait in animals because it plays a role for numerous life history components such as food consumption, inter- and intraspecific interactions, and reproductive success. Bite force has been studied across a wide range of vertebrate species, but only for 20 species of insects, the most speciose animal lineage. Here we present the insect bite force database with bite force measurements for 654 insect species covering 111 families and 13 orders with body lengths ranging from 4.2 - 180.1 mm. In total we recorded 1906 bite force series from 1290 specimens, and, in addition, present basal head, body, and wing metrics. As such, the database will facilitate a wide range of studies on the characteristics, predictors, and macroevolution of bite force in the largest clade of the animal kingdom and may serve as a basis to further our understanding of macroevolutionary processes in relation to bite force across all biting metazoans.

A biomechanical model for the relation between bite force and mandibular opening angle in arthropods

“…9 simplifies to F max ≈ 83kPa H w H l . On average, this upper bound is approximately three times larger than values measured for 653 insect species [assuming , see 63]. Notably, these force measurements were conducted at opening angles which may differ from the angle of maximum force.…”

“…Strikingly, the vast majority of bite force studies has been conducted on vertebrates and crustaceans [e. g. 2-8, 11, 13-52]. In sharp contrast, comparatively few studies exist for the hyperdiverse non-crustacean arthropods [but see 9,10,12,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63].…”

Strong positive allometry of bite force in leaf-cutter ants increases the range of cuttable plant tissues

“…A. vollenweideri ants generate exceptionally large weight-specific bite forces, comparable to those of amniotes 20 times heavier. ( D ) Relative to their head volume, however, their bite forces are comparable to those of other insects [extracted from 90], and amniotes [89], suggesting that leaf-cutter ants have a large weight-specific head volume. Across species, bite forces are isometric, head volume 0.68 [OLS 95% CI: (0.66 | 0.70), R 2 = 0.87].…”

“…To this end, we compare both the scaling and magnitude of bite forces with two extensive datasets including close to 900 species, covering eight orders of magnitude in body mass and head volume [89, 90]. Regression analysis on log 10 -transformed bite force data for 203 amniote and two insect species against body mass [45, 46, 89], and for 139 amniote and 653 insect species against head volume [89, 90] suggests isometry of bite forces [mass 0.68 , OLS 95% CI: (0.65 | 0.72), R 2 = 0.86; head volume 0.68 , OLS 95% CI: (0.66 | 0.70), R 2 = 0.87, see Fig.4]. The intercepts of the regression, which reflect mass- and head-volume specific bite forces (with mass in g, volume in mm 3 , and force in N), in turn are −0.08 [mass across species: OLS 95% CI: (−0.17 | 0.01)], 1.17 [mass within A. vollenweideri: OLS 95% CI: (1.07 | 1.26), see Fig.4C], −1.49 [volume across species: OLS 95% CI: (−1.53 | −1.44)], and −1.29 [volume within A. vollenweideri: OLS 95% CI: (−1.33 | −1.25)].…”

“…To this end, we compare both the scaling and magnitude of bite forces with two extensive datasets including close to 900 species, covering eight orders of magnitude in body mass and head volume [89, 90]. Regression analysis on log 10 -transformed bite force data for 203 amniote and four insect species against body mass [45, 46, 89, 107, 108], and for 139 amniote and 653 insect species against head volume [89, 90] suggests isometry of bite forces [mass 0.68 , OLS 95 % CI: (0.64 | 0.72), R 2 = 0.86; head volume 0.68 , OLS 95 % CI: (0.66| 0.70), R 2 = 0.87, see Fig. 4].…”