Jumping mechanisms in lacewings (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae and Hemerobiidae)

Abstract

Lacewings launch themselves into the air by simultaneous propulsive movements of the middle and hind legs as revealed in video images captured at a rate of 1000 s −1 . These movements were powered largely by thoracic trochanteral depressor muscles but did not start from a particular preset position of these legs. Ridges on the lateral sides of the meso-and metathorax fluoresced bright blue when illuminated with ultraviolet light, suggesting the presence of the elastic protein resilin. The middle and hind legs were longer than the front legs but their femora and tibiae were narrow tubes of similar diameter. Jumps were of two types. First, those in which the body was oriented almost parallel to the ground (−7±8 deg in green lacewings, 13.7±7 deg in brown lacewings) at take-off and remained stable once animals were airborne. The wings did not move until 5 ms after take-off when flapping flight ensued. Second, were jumps in which the head pointed downwards at take-off (green lacewings, −37±3 deg; brown lacewings, −35±4 deg) and the body rotated in the pitch plane once airborne without the wings opening. The larger green lacewings (mass 9 mg, body length 10.3 mm) took 15 ms and the smaller brown lacewings (3.6 mg and 5.3 mm) 9 ms to accelerate the body to mean take-off velocities of 0.6 and 0.5 m s −1. During their fastest jumps green and brown lacewings experienced accelerations of 5.5 or 6.3 g, respectively. They required an energy expenditure of 5.6 or 0.7 μJ, a power output of 0.3 or 0.1 mW and exerted a force of 0.6 or 0.2 mN. The required power was well within the maximum active contractile limit of normal muscle, so that jumping could be produced by direct muscle contractions without a power amplification mechanism or an energy store.

Diversity in Morphology and Locomotory Behavior Is Associated with Niche Expansion in the Semi-aquatic Bugs

“…We inferred the amount of energy spent per stroke based on the procedure from [40]. Kinetic energy (E k in joules) used during a stroke is determined using the following expression: E k = 0.5mv 2 , where m is the mass of the insect in grams, and v is the velocity generated during one stroke in meters per second.…”

Jumping mechanisms and strategies in moths (Lepidoptera)

“…Small flies such as Drosophila use the middle pair of legs (Card and Dickinson, 2008;Zumstein et al, 2004), whilst most other jumping insects from locusts (Bennet-Clark, 1975) to fleas (Bennet-Clark and Lucey, 1967) and jumping bugs (Burrows, 2006) use only the hind legs. The moths analysed here join a small group of diverse insects that includes lacewings (Burrows and Dorosenko, 2014), snow fleas (Boreus hyemalis) (Burrows, 2011), a fly (Hydrophorus alboflorens) (Burrows, 2013) and an ant (Myrmecia nigrocincta) (Tautz et al, 1994) in using both the middle and hind pairs of legs together to propel jumping. What advantage do moths get from such a mechanism?…”

Whiteflies stabilize their take-off with closed wings

“…Insects such as fleas (Bennet-Clark and Lucey, 1967), grasshoppers (Bennet-Clark, 1975;Heitler, 1974), leafhoppers (Burrows, 2007), flea beetles (Furth et al, 1983), click beetles (Evans, 1972) and many more (see review in Burrows and Dorosenko, 2014) can launch their body into the air, covering distances of tens of body lengths in a single jump. To increase the speed at leaving the ground, some insects push their body off the ground with extremely high acceleration, reaching up to 300-400 times the gravitational acceleration (e.g.…”