Musculoskeletal modeling of the dragonfly mandible system as an aid to understanding the role of single muscles in an evolutionary context

David, Sina; Funken, Johannes; Potthast, Wolfgang; Blanke, Alexander

doi:10.1242/jeb.132399

Cited by 23 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…During the subsequent closing phase, the mandibles contacted the food particle and generated a bite force. The predicted maximum bite force of 0.39 N was 0.08 N higher than the maximum measured bite force (0.31 N) in a similarly sized different dragonfly species [33], thus it can be assumed that the MDA model was predicting physiologically reasonable muscle forces and joint reaction as was also shown in former sensitivity studies [34,35]. The MDA model is available as electronic supplementary material, file 1_MDA_model_lestes.bin.…”

Section: (B) Multibody Dynamics Modellingmentioning

confidence: 70%

Computational biomechanics changes our view on insect head evolution

Blanke¹,

Watson²,

Richard³

et al. 2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite large-scale molecular attempts, the relationships of the basal winged insect lineages dragonflies, mayflies and neopterans, are still unresolved. Other data sources, such as morphology, suffer from unclear functional dependencies of the structures considered, which might mislead phylogenetic inference. Here, we assess this problem by combining for the first time biomechanics with phylogenetics using two advanced engineering techniques, multibody dynamics analysis and finite-element analysis, to objectively identify functional linkages in insect head structures which have been used traditionally to argue basal winged insect relationships. With a biomechanical model of unprecedented detail, we are able to investigate the mechanics of morphological characters under biologically realistic load, i.e. biting. We show that a range of head characters, mainly ridges, endoskeletal elements and joints, are indeed mechanically linked to each other. An analysis of character state correlation in a morphological data matrix focused on head characters shows highly significant correlation of these mechanically linked structures. Phylogenetic tree reconstruction under different data exclusion schemes based on the correlation analysis unambiguously supports a sistergroup relationship of dragonflies and mayflies. The combination of biomechanics and phylogenetics as it is proposed here could be a promising approach to assess functional dependencies in many organisms to increase our understanding of phenotypic evolution.

show abstract

Section: (B) Multibody Dynamics Modellingmentioning

confidence: 70%

Computational biomechanics changes our view on insect head evolution

Blanke¹,

Watson²,

Richard³

et al. 2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Muscles 0md6 and 0md8 are attached lateral and postero-lateral within the mandible, respectively. They enable a dorso-lateral and postero-dorsal movement of the mandible and support in this function the main abductor 0md3 [4]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The feeding process usually requires a complex interaction of several specially shaped mouthpart elements – labrum, mandibles, maxillae and labium - moved in a concerted action by muscles through specialised joints supplemented by membranous regions. Such coordinated movements of the mouthparts were studied in exemplary insects using for example tomographic filming techniques [3], but remain poorly understood concerning muscle activation [4] and neuronal control [5]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The head morphology of Pyrrhosoma nymphula larvae (Odonata: Zygoptera) focusing on functional aspects of the mouthparts

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThe understanding of concerted movements and its underlying biomechanics is often complex and elusive. Functional principles and hypothetical functions of these complex movements can provide a solid basis for biomechanical experiments and modelling. Here a description of the cephalic anatomy of Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Zygoptera, Coenagrionidae) focusing on functional aspects of the mouthparts using micro computed tomography (μCT) is presented.ResultsWe compared six different instars of the damselfly P. nymphula as well as one instar of the dragonfly Aeshna cyanea and Epiophlebia superstes each. In total 42 head muscles were described with only minor differences of the attachment points between the examined species and the absence of antennal muscle M. scapopedicellaris medialis (0an7) in Epiophlebia as a probable apomorphy of this group. Furthermore, the ontogenetic differences between the six larval instars are minor; the only considerable finding is the change of M. submentopraementalis (0la8), which is dichotomous in the early instars (I1,I2 and I3) with a second point of origin at the postero-lateral base of the submentum. This dichotomy is not present in any of the older instars studied (I6, middle-late and pen-ultimate).ConclusionHowever, the main focus of the study herein, is to use these detailed morphological descriptions as basis for hypothetic functional models of the odonatan mouthparts. We present blueprint like description of the mouthparts and their musculature, highlighting the caused direction of motion for every single muscle. This data will help to elucidate the complex concerted movements of the mouthparts and will contribute to the understanding of its biomechanics not in Odonata only.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12983-017-0209-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

“…Onychogomphus, a medium-sized dragonfly, shows a bite force which is higher than the bite force of Cordulegaster, one of the largest dragonflies in Europe (figure 1b, [10] are presented for direct comparison with the specimens studied here.…”

Section: Dragonfly Bite Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In all dragonfly species, the mandibles are connected to the head with two ball-and-socket joints each; the muscle equipment consists of a large single mandibular adductor, an abductor and a varying set of three or four smaller associated adductors [8,[11][12][13]. It has been shown [10] & 2016 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musculoskeletal modelling under an evolutionary perspective: deciphering the role of single muscle regions in closely related insects

David

Funken

Potthast

et al. 2016

J. R. Soc. Interface.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Insects show a remarkable diversity of muscle configurations, yet the factors leading to this functional diversity are poorly understood. Here, we use musculoskeletal modelling to understand the spatio-temporal activity of an insect muscle in several dragonfly species and to reveal potential mechanical factors leading to a particular muscle configuration. Bite characteristics potentially show systematic signal, but absolute bite force is not correlated with size. Muscle configuration and inverse dynamics show that the wider relative area of muscle attachment and the higher activity of subapical muscle groups are responsible for this high bite force. This wider attachment area is, however, not an evolutionary trend within dragonflies. Our inverse dynamic data, furthermore, show that maximum bite forces most probably do not reflect maximal muscle force production capability in all studied species. The thin head capsule and the attachment areas of muscles most probably limit the maximum force output of the mandibular muscles.

show abstract

Musculoskeletal modeling of the dragonfly mandible system as an aid to understanding the role of single muscles in an evolutionary context

Cited by 23 publications

References 67 publications

Computational biomechanics changes our view on insect head evolution

Computational biomechanics changes our view on insect head evolution

The head morphology of Pyrrhosoma nymphula larvae (Odonata: Zygoptera) focusing on functional aspects of the mouthparts

Musculoskeletal modelling under an evolutionary perspective: deciphering the role of single muscle regions in closely related insects

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About