Pygmy mole crickets jump from water

Burrows, Malcolm; Sutton, Gregory P.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.045

Cited by 29 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…By contrast, riparian arthropods frequently tread on both land and water with high efficiency using the same gaits and appendages. For example, the hydrophobic tarsi of riparian Hydrophorus flies allow them to alight on water or vegetation (Burrows, 2013), and the modified hind legs of tridactylid grasshoppers facilitate large jumps from both land and water (Burrows and Picker, 2010;Burrows and Sutton, 2012). Many spiders also locomote equally well on water and land (Stratton et al, 2004); some use a modified gait when on water while others do not (Suter and Wildman, 1999;Suter et al, 2003;Suter, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water surface locomotion in tropical canopy ants

Yanoviak

Frederick

2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Upon falling onto the water surface, most terrestrial arthropods helplessly struggle and are quickly eaten by aquatic predators. Exceptions to this outcome mostly occur among riparian taxa that escape by walking or swimming at the water surface. Here we document sustained, directional, neustonic locomotion (i.e. surface swimming) in tropical arboreal ants. We dropped 35 species of ants into natural and artificial aquatic settings in Peru and Panama to assess their swimming ability. Ten species showed directed surface swimming at speeds >3 body lengths s −1 , with some swimming at absolute speeds >10 cm s −1 . Ten other species exhibited partial swimming ability characterized by relatively slow but directed movement. The remaining species showed no locomotory control at the surface. The phylogenetic distribution of swimming among ant genera indicates parallel evolution and a trend toward negative association with directed aerial descent behavior. Experiments with workers of Odontomachus bauri showed that they escape from the water by directing their swimming toward dark emergent objects (i.e. skototaxis). Analyses of high-speed video images indicate that Pachycondyla spp. and O. bauri use a modified alternating tripod gait when swimming; they generate thrust at the water surface via synchronized treading and rowing motions of the contralateral fore and mid legs, respectively, while the hind legs provide roll stability. These results expand the list of facultatively neustonic terrestrial taxa to include various species of tropical arboreal ants. KEY WORDS: Aquatic, Behavior, Forest, Formicidae, Neustonic, Skototaxis INTRODUCTIONEfficient locomotion at the air-water interface is relatively uncommon in nature (Vogel, 1994). Most terrestrial arthropods are helpless when they fall onto water, in part because their small body size makes them vulnerable to entrapment by surface tension forces. Additionally, the relatively low physical resistance of water to slender kicking appendages often leads to a futile struggle ending in death via drowning or predation. Conspicuous exceptions to these generalities include the specialized water-treading behaviors and morphologies of neustonic insects and spiders (Andersen, 1976;Milne and Milne, 1978;Vogel, 1994;Hu et al., 2003). For species lacking such traits, escape from the water surface usually is fortuitous.The very specialized legs of obligate pelagic and neustonic taxa such as diving beetles and water striders facilitate efficient locomotion below or on the water surface (Nachtigall, 1974), but are relatively ineffective and clumsy on land. The gaits of these insects often are kinematically distinct from the alternating tripod gait used by terrestrial species in the same clades (Andersen, 1976). By contrast, riparian arthropods frequently tread on both land and water with high efficiency using the same gaits and appendages. For example, the hydrophobic tarsi of riparian Hydrophorus flies allow them to alight on water or vegetation (Burrows, 2013), and the modified hin...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water surface locomotion in tropical canopy ants

Yanoviak

Frederick

2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…This revealed that rather than pushing purely downwards, they rotate their legs, accelerating the motion rapidly and allowing the insects to attain high vertical accelerations without piercing the water surface. It also allows the insects to jump as high on water as they can on land, distinguishing this mechanism from that used by other semi-aquatic insects that can jump much more effectively on dry land ( 7).…”

Section: Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two leaps forward for robot locomotion

Vella¹

2015

Science

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“…There are small insects, such as pygmy mole crickets, that still manage to jump on water by taking advantage of viscosity via a high driving acceleration and leg velocity (>130,000°s −1 ). But their water-jumping performance is much lower than when they jump on solid ground (13).…”

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confidence: 99%

Jumping on water: Surface tension–dominated jumping of water striders and robotic insects

Koh

Yang

Jung

et al. 2015

Science

351

232

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Jumping on water is a unique locomotion mode found in semi-aquatic arthropods, such as water striders. To reproduce this feat in a surface tension-dominant jumping robot, we elucidated the hydrodynamics involved and applied them to develop a bio-inspired impulsive mechanism that maximizes momentum transfer to water. We found that water striders rotate the curved tips of their legs inward at a relatively low descending velocity with a force just below that required to break the water surface (144 millinewtons/meter). We built a 68-milligram at-scale jumping robotic insect and verified that it jumps on water with maximum momentum transfer. The results suggest an understanding of the hydrodynamic phenomena used by semi-aquatic arthropods during water jumping and prescribe a method for reproducing these capabilities in artificial systems.

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Pygmy mole crickets jump from water

Cited by 29 publications

References 9 publications

Water surface locomotion in tropical canopy ants

Water surface locomotion in tropical canopy ants

Two leaps forward for robot locomotion

Jumping on water: Surface tension–dominated jumping of water striders and robotic insects

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