Insect wing damage: causes, consequences and compensatory mechanisms

Abstract

The evolution of wings has played a key role in the success of insect species, allowing them to diversify to fill many niches. Insect wings are complex multifunctional structures, which not only have to withstand aerodynamic forces but also need to resist excessive stresses caused by accidental collisions. This Commentary provides a summary of the literature on damage-reducing morphological adaptations in wings, covering natural causes of wing collisions, their impact on the structural integrity of wings and associated consequences for both insect flight performance and life expectancy. Data from the literature and our own observations suggest that insects have evolved strategies that (i) reduce the likelihood of wing damage and (ii) allow them to cope with damage when it occurs: damage-related fractures are minimized because wings evolved to be damage tolerant and, in the case of wing damage, insects compensate for the reduced aerodynamic efficiency with dedicated changes in flight kinematics.

Bumblebees land rapidly by intermittently accelerating and decelerating toward the surface during visually guided landings

“…For each visit, they accurately control their flight speed so that it reduces to near zero close to the landing surface ( Chang et al., 2016 ; Reber et al., 2016a ). Such accurate control ensures soft touchdown and thus reduces the risk of damage that can be caused by high-impact collisions ( Foster and Cartar, 2011 ; Mountcastle and Combes, 2014 ; Rajabi et al., 2020 ).…”

The damping and structural properties of dragonfly and damselfly wings during dynamic movement

“…Our results can also be used to determine the potential influence of mechanical damages on the wing damping. As indicated by previous studies, wing damage, particularly in form of area loss, often occurs at the wingtip and trailing edge 25 , 28 , 30 , 75 . Such damages, which are mainly caused by mechanical collisions, significantly increase over time and as an insect ages 28 .…”

“…Although insect wings often experience accidental stresses, caused by wind gusts, predatory attacks and collisions with vegetation, very little is known about their response to the unexpected forces occurring under such circumstances 25 . Our current understanding is that insect wings are very resilient to environmental disturbances; they have evolved strategies to both reduce the risk of material/structural failures due to excessive loadings and isolate such failures, when they occur 25 – 30 . For instance, under an accidental collision, wings can reversibly bend without failure 27 , because some wing regions that do not typically deform in flight undergo large deformations under unexpected loads 13 .…”

Improving Polysaccharide-Based Chitin/Chitosan-Aerogel Materials by Learning from Genetics and Molecular Biology

“…Nanofiber stacks form a plywood structure, which is a prominent part of many cuticles [ 110 , 147 , 159 ]. The hierarchic arrangement, the stiffness, strength, fracture toughness, and the working fracture of insect chitin matrices have been discussed previously [ 110 , 160 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 ].…”