Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
Volume 211, Issue 12, Pages 1958-1963Publisher
COMPANY OF BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.014308
Keywords
attachment; adhesion; beetle; gastrophysa viridula; Coleoptera; chrysomelidae; fly; Lucilia caesar; diptera; Calliphoridae; contact formation; transmission X-ray microscope; TXM
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
For the first time, the terminal elements (spatulae) of setal ( hairy) attachment devices of the beetle Gastrophysa viridula ( Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) and the fly Lucilia caesar(Diptera, Calliphoridae) were studied using transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) with a lateral resolution of about 30 nm. Since images are taken under ambient conditions, we demonstrate here that this method can be applied to study the contact behaviour of biological systems, including animal tenent setae, in a fresh state. We observed that the attached spatulae show a viscoelastic behavior increasing the contact area and providing improved adaptability to the local topography of the surface. The technique can be extended to TXM tomography, which would provide three-dimensional information and a deeper insight into the details of insect attachment structures.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available