Elasticity and movements of the cockroach tarsus in walking

Frazier, S. F.; Larsen, Gretchen; Neff, David; Quimby, Laura; Carney, Michelle D.; DiCaprio, Ralph A.; Zill, Sasha N.

doi:10.1007/s003590050374

Cited by 88 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…2E-G). Resilin has previously been reported in the tarsi of several insect species (Gorb, 1996;Frazier et al, 1999;Federle et al, 2001;Niederegger and Gorb, 2003;Frantsevich and Gorb, 2004;Voigt et al, 2007;Michels et al, 2016). The specific protein is also a known component in the extensible alloscutal cuticle in I. ricinus females (Dillinger and Kesel, 2002;Andersen and Roepstorff, 2005).…”

Section: Discussion Soft and Flexible But Tough: Tarsal Functional Mmentioning

confidence: 88%

Functional morphology of tarsal adhesive pads and attachment ability in ticksIxodes ricinus(Arachnida, Acari, Ixodidae)

Voigt

Gorb

2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The presence of well-developed, elastic claws on ticks and widely pilose hosts led us to hypothesise that ticks are mostly adapted to attachment and locomotion on rough, strongly corrugated and hairy, felt-like substrates. However, by using a combination of morphological and experimental approaches, we visualised the ultrastructure of attachment devices of Ixodes ricinus and showed that this species adheres more strongly to smooth surfaces than to rough ones. Between paired, elongated, curved, elastic claws, I. ricinus bears a large, flexible, foldable adhesive pad, which represents an adaptation to adhesion on smooth surfaces. Accordingly, ticks attached strongest to glass and to surface profiles similar to those of the human skin, generating safety factors (attachment force relative to body weight) up to 534 (females). Considerably lower attachment force was found on silicone substrates and as a result of thanatosis after jolting.

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Section: Discussion Soft and Flexible But Tough: Tarsal Functional Mmentioning

confidence: 88%

Functional morphology of tarsal adhesive pads and attachment ability in ticksIxodes ricinus(Arachnida, Acari, Ixodidae)

Voigt

Gorb

2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…These muscles may even cocontract to maintain body posture or to stabilize catalepsy. A similar function might be realized by the retractor unguis (Radnikow and Bässler, 1991) and its elastic cuticular counterparts (Frantsevich and Gorb, 2004;Frazier et al, 1999;Neff et al, 2000). These two components may work together to stabilize the posture of the claws and ensure a reliable grip for the animal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Jiao et al, 2000;Perez Goodwyn et al, 2006;Vötsch et al, 2002) and cockroaches (e.g. Clemente and Federle, 2008;Frazier et al, 1999;Larsen et al, 1997). Studies of adhesive devices on animal legs have mainly focused on material properties, the generation of adhesive and frictional forces, or the role of adhesive fluids.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activity of the claw retractor muscle in stick insects in wall and ceiling situations

Bußhardt

Gorb

Wolf

2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYThe activity of the middle part of the claw retractor muscle was examined in two species of stick insects (Carausius morosus and Cuniculina impigra). We performed electromyographic recordings while the animals were standing on a smooth or a rough surface of a platform in horizontal, vertical or inverted positions, as well as during rotations of the platform. We recorded tonic and phasic motor units. The tonic units were active all the time without significant differences in spike frequency, regardless of the position of the animals (although there was a tendency for higher discharge frequencies to occur during platform rotations). The phasic units were active almost exclusively during platform movement. In contrast to the tonic units, we detected significant differences in the activities of the phasic units; namely, higher spike frequencies during rotations compared with the stationary phases, especially for rotations into 'more awkward' positions. A comparison of the two species revealed no difference in muscle activity, despite differences in the animals' tarsal attachment structures. The same was true when comparing the muscle activity of the two species on both the smooth and the rough surfaces.

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“…When animals replace muscles by mechanical elements, they can save energy, and make limbs more lightweight [20,21]. The insect's tarsus is a prime example of an efficient, lightweight structure [22]: the claw flexor muscle is located in the tibia and femur, far away from the foot tip. Moreover, the claw flexor muscle has no antagonist, and the claws return to their extended position by recoil of elastic cuticle that may contain resilin [23].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid preflexes in smooth adhesive pads of insects prevent sudden detachment

Endlein

Federle

2013

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Many insects possess adhesive organs that can produce extreme attachment forces of more than 100 times body weight but they can rapidly release adhesion to allow locomotion. During walking, weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) use only a fraction of their maximally available contact area, even upside-down on a smooth surface. To test whether the reduced contact area makes the ants more susceptible to sudden and unexpected detachment forces, for example, by rain or wind gusts, we investigated the reaction of untethered ants to rapid horizontal displacements of the substrate. Highspeed video recordings revealed that the pad's contact area could more than double within the first millisecond after the perturbation. This contact area expansion is much faster than any neuromuscular reflex and therefore represents a passive 'preflex', resulting from the mechanical properties and geometrical arrangement of the (pre-)tarsus. This preflex reaction protects ants effectively against unexpected detachment, and allows them to use less contact area during locomotion. Contact area expanded most strongly when the substrate displacement generated a pull along the axis of the tarsus, showing that the ants' preflex is direction-dependent. The preflex may be based on the ability of Hymenopteran adhesive pads to unfold when pulled towards the body. We tested Indian stick insects (Carausius morosus), which have smooth pads that lack this motility. Similar to the ants, they showed a rapid and direction-dependent expansion of the contact area mainly in the lateral direction. We propose that the preflex reaction in stick insects is based on the reorientation of internal cuticle fibrils in a constant-volume system, whereas the ants' pad cuticle is probably not a hydrostat, and pad extension is achieved by the arcus, an endoscelerite of the arolium.

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Elasticity and movements of the cockroach tarsus in walking

Cited by 88 publications

References 1 publication

Functional morphology of tarsal adhesive pads and attachment ability in ticksIxodes ricinus(Arachnida, Acari, Ixodidae)

Functional morphology of tarsal adhesive pads and attachment ability in ticksIxodes ricinus(Arachnida, Acari, Ixodidae)

Activity of the claw retractor muscle in stick insects in wall and ceiling situations

Rapid preflexes in smooth adhesive pads of insects prevent sudden detachment

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