The pterostigma of insect wings an inertial regulator of wing pitch

Norberg, R. Åke

doi:10.1007/bf00693547

Cited by 142 publications

(111 citation statements)

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“…A considerable amount of effort has been devoted to analysing insect wing design and the complex and numerous deformations that occur during flight are frequently interpreted as optimal (Norberg, 1972;Wootton, 1981;Brodskiy & Ivanov, 1983;Ennos, 1988). This requires that genetic variation is available to achieve fine-grained adaptation, so that each component of the wing can evolve largely independently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetics of wing pattern elements in the polyphenic butterfly, Bicyclus anynana

1993

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The tropical butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, is highly polyphenic in response to seasonal changes (temperature and rainfall) in Malawi. The wing pattern varies considerably between the wet and dry season forms, particularly with respect to the background colour and the size of many of the wing pattern elements (e.g. eyespots). A selection experiment was carried out to determine the heritability of one of the ventral wing surface eyespots. The degree of genetic covariation among the various polyphenic ventral surface pattern elements and two non-polyphenic dorsal surface eyespots was also investigated. Selection to both increase and decrease the relative size of the second eyespot on the ventral surface was successful and indicated a heritability of more than 0.4.Other eyespots and the transverse wing band on the ventral surface all showed correlated responses. On the dorsal surface only the second eyespot showed a correlated response to selection. The results indicate that response to selection occurred at two levels: (i) the genes affecting the size of the eyespot directly and (ii) the eyespot biochemical determination mechanism. The fact that not all of the dorsal surface features showed correlated responses suggests that subtle differences may exist between the ways in which the production of eyespots on the ventral and dorsal surface is controlled.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetics of wing pattern elements in the polyphenic butterfly, Bicyclus anynana

1993

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“…Collective materials Defense swarming Japanese honeybees [574] Material-like swarm Honeybees [573] Magnetic orientation Termites [631] Tree nesting Weaver ants [653] Water active properties Designed wettability Desert beetle [161] Hydrophobic surface Planthopper, [155] mosquitos, [157] green bottle fly [160] Thin flexible membranes Locomotion Locomotive method Mayflies [654] Wing design Bumblebees, [102][103][104][105] dragonflies [94,106,107,112] Mechanosensation Subgenual organs Ground wetas [248,249] Tympanum Cicadas [235] Sound production Tymbal sound production Tiger moths, [269] cicadas [254,266] Thermoregulation Thermosensing Dark-pigmented butterflies [393,655] Water active properties Hydrophobic surface Mosquitos [178] Water-active behavior Termites [177,656] Chemical/other Chemical sensing and defense…”

Section: Physical Adhesive Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This darkpigmented spot sits adjacent to the leading wing edge and is thicker and denser than that of the surrounding cuticle, with a much coarser texture ( Figure 6). [106] It shifts the wing's center of mass toward the leading edge, which provides more gliding stability, helps to regulate wing pitch, and increases asymmetry between upstroke and downstroke in each flap. [106,107] Membrane composition also varies spatially within wings.…”

Section: Insect Wing Morphology and Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[106] It shifts the wing's center of mass toward the leading edge, which provides more gliding stability, helps to regulate wing pitch, and increases asymmetry between upstroke and downstroke in each flap. [106,107] Membrane composition also varies spatially within wings. The wings of certain beetles and earwigs specifically contain flexible regions rich in a protein called resilin that imparts elasticity.…”

Section: Insect Wing Morphology and Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature: Functional Materials in Insects

2018

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Over the course of their wildly successful proliferation across the earth, the insects as a taxon have evolved enviable adaptations to their diverse habitats, which include adhesives, locomotor systems, hydrophobic surfaces, and sensors and actuators that transduce mechanical, acoustic, optical, thermal, and chemical signals. Insect‐inspired designs currently appear in a range of contexts, including antireflective coatings, optical displays, and computing algorithms. However, as over one million distinct and highly specialized species of insects have colonized nearly all habitable regions on the planet, they still provide a largely untapped pool of unique problem‐solving strategies. With the intent of providing materials scientists and engineers with a muse for the next generation of bioinspired materials, here, a selection of some of the most spectacular adaptations that insects have evolved is assembled and organized by function. The insects presented display dazzling optical properties as a result of natural photonic crystals, precise hierarchical patterns that span length scales from nanometers to millimeters, and formidable defense mechanisms that deploy an arsenal of chemical weaponry. Successful mimicry of these adaptations may facilitate technological solutions to as wide a range of problems as they solve in the insects that originated them.

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“…4 B). The latter is weighted and helps stabilize the wing during flight (Norberg, 1972). The wing apparently bends and flexes rather widely around the nodus during flight.…”

Section: Ecology and Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%