Grohmann Constanze, Blankenstein Andreas, Koops Sven, Gorb Stanislav N
Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Am Botanischen Garten 9, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Am Botanischen Garten 9, 24118 Kiel, Germany.
J Exp Biol. 2014 Dec 1;217(Pt 23):4213-20. doi: 10.1242/jeb.108902. Epub 2014 Oct 16.
Numerous studies deal with insect attachment onto surfaces with different roughness; however, little is known about insect attachment onto surfaces that have different chemistry. In the present study, we describe the attachment structures of the water-lily leaf beetle Galerucella nymphaeae and test the hypothesis that the larval and adult stages generate the strongest attachment on surfaces with contact angles that are similar to those of leaves of their host plants. The larvae bear a smooth attachment system with arolium-like structures at their legs and a pygopodium at the abdomen tip. Adults have pointed setae on the ventral side of the two proximal tarsomeres and densely arranged spatula-shaped ones on their third tarsomere. In a centrifugal force tester, larvae and adults attained the highest friction forces and safety factors on surfaces with a water contact angle of 83 deg compared to those of 6, 26 and 109 deg. This comes close to the contact angle of their host plant Nuphar lutea (86 deg). The similarity in larval and adult performances might be a result of the similar chemical composition of their attachment fluid. We compare our findings with previous studies on the forces that insects generate on surfaces with different surface energies.
许多研究都涉及昆虫在不同粗糙度表面上的附着情况；然而，对于昆虫在具有不同化学性质的表面上的附着情况却知之甚少。在本研究中，我们描述了睡莲叶甲虫（Galerucella nymphaeae）的附着结构，并检验了这样一个假设：幼虫和成虫阶段在接触角与宿主植物叶片相似的表面上产生最强的附着。幼虫在腿部具有带有类似中垫结构的光滑附着系统，在腹部末端有臀足。成虫在两个近端跗节腹侧有尖刚毛，在第三跗节上有密集排列的铲形刚毛。在离心力测试仪中，与水接触角为6°、26°和109°的表面相比，幼虫和成虫在水接触角为83°的表面上获得了最高的摩擦力和安全系数。这接近于它们的宿主植物黄睡莲（Nuphar lutea）的接触角（86°）。幼虫和成虫表现的相似性可能是由于它们附着液的化学成分相似。我们将我们的研究结果与之前关于昆虫在具有不同表面能的表面上产生的力的研究进行了比较。
