Insect attachment on waxy plant surfaces: the effect of pad contamination by different waxes

• Elena V. Gorb and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 385–395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.35

• experimentally supports the contamination hypothesis. Keywords: adhesion; Chrysolina fastuosa; Chrysomelidae; Coleoptera; epicuticular wax projections; tenent setae; traction force; Introduction It has been shown in numerous experimental studies that insects possessing hairy adhesive pads (i.e., specialized

• and the tips of tenent setae covering insect adhesive pads, which are responsible for establishing an intimate contact with the surface [14]. The fluid absorption hypothesis assumes that because of the high capillarity of the 3D wax coverage, the adhesive fluid may be absorbed from the insect pad

• [1][38]). Tenent setae of these pads have different shapes of the tip: (1) a flat discoidal terminal element in mushroom-like setae situated in the central part of the basal and distal tarsomeres (only in males, present in all legs); (2) a flat and widened end plate called spatula in setae located

A comparison of tarsal morphology and traction force in the two burying beetles Nicrophorus nepalensis and Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera, Silphidae)

• Liesa Schnee,
• Benjamin Sampalla,
• Josef K. Müller and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 47–61, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.5

• unguitractor tendon and insufficient recovery times can be excluded, a possible functional synergism between claw and tenent setae might explain this result [6]. Influence of surface roughness and polarity on traction force of tenent setae only In this section, we will only discuss tarsal attachment under the

• surfaces (cf. Figure 3 and Figure 4) indicating that this surface represents a critical (friction reducing) surface asperity not only for the claws, but also for the tenent setae. This means that, at certain ranges of substrate roughness, attachment organs show a minimum of adhesion. Such a critical range

• of hairy tarsal adhesive systems, such as those in leaf beetles [42] and other arthropods [45]. Interestingly, in this context, the transverse ribbing pattern at the tips of the tenent setae of type a (cf. Figure 2) is restricted to the ventral side. If this ribbing pattern is associated with the

Surface roughness rather than surface chemistry essentially affects insect adhesion

• Matt W. England,
• Tomoya Sato,
• Makoto Yagihashi,
• Atsushi Hozumi,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Elena V. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1471–1479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.139

• to identify the most important parameters influencing insect attachment. Many insects, including beetles, can attach to inverted surfaces using specific hairy adhesive pads, covered with tenent setae, which secrete an adhesive fluid which typically consists of a mixture of alcohols, fatty acids, and

• numerical predictions. Attachment of male C. septempunctata was significantly stronger on the smooth hydrophilic surfaces. This effect was less pronounced or even vanished on our textured surfaces, which has been previously explained by the differences in the contact shape of the tenent setae [23][38]. In

Influence of ambient humidity on the attachment ability of ladybird beetles (Coccinella septempunctata)

• Lars Heepe,
• Jonas O. Wolff and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1322–1329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.123

• tarsal soles of tenent setae, supplemented with an adhesive fluid. We studied the attachment ability of the seven-spotted ladybird beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) at different humidities by horizontal traction experiments. We found that both low (15%) and high (99%) relative humidities lead to a

• by ambient humidity [16][17]. Due to its polarity it can work as a bonding agent between two surfaces, and therefore have a substantial effect on adhesion [18][19][20][21]. In insects the terminal contact elements of tenent setae are not dry, but rather wetted by a fluid secretion that is usually a

• adhesive pads [6]. Males possess tenent setae with discoidal tips that are assumed to be an adaptation to securely attach to the smooth elytrae of the female during both copulation and mate guarding [6][37]. Two main questions were asked. (1) Does ambient humidity influence the attachment ability of the

Insect attachment on crystalline bioinspired wax surfaces formed by alkanes of varying chain lengths

• Elena Gorb,
• Sandro Böhm,
• Nadine Jacky,
• Louis-Philippe Maier,
• Kirstin Dening,
• Sasha Pechook,
• Boaz Pokroy and
• Stanislav Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1031–1041, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.116

• on wax samples when compared to insect attachment forces measured on these surfaces. We explain these results by the differences in material properties between polydimethylsiloxane probes and tenent setae of C. septempunctata beetles. Among wax surfaces, force experiments showed stronger insect

• and microrough substrates, many insects use highly specialised adhesive pads, which may be located on different parts of the leg and are of two different types: smooth and setose (hairy) [2][3]. Due to the material flexibility of smooth pads and fine fibrillar surface microstructures (tenent setae

• on wax samples compared to insect attachment forces measured on these surfaces. These force values were either close or equal to those measured on glass. We explain these results by differences in the material properties between PDMS and tenent setae of C. septempunctata beetles. The PDMS probes