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The biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus

The female locust has a unique mechanism for digging in order to deposit its eggs deep in the ground. It uses two pairs of sclerotized valves to displace the granular matter, while extending its abdomen as it propagates underground. This ensures optimal conditions for the eggs to incubate and provid...

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Autores principales: Das, Rakesh, Gershon, Shmuel, Bar-On, Benny, Tadayon, Maryam, Ayali, Amir, Pinchasik, Bat-El
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8923821/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35291831
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0955
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author Das, Rakesh
Gershon, Shmuel
Bar-On, Benny
Tadayon, Maryam
Ayali, Amir
Pinchasik, Bat-El
author_facet Das, Rakesh
Gershon, Shmuel
Bar-On, Benny
Tadayon, Maryam
Ayali, Amir
Pinchasik, Bat-El
author_sort Das, Rakesh
collection PubMed
description The female locust has a unique mechanism for digging in order to deposit its eggs deep in the ground. It uses two pairs of sclerotized valves to displace the granular matter, while extending its abdomen as it propagates underground. This ensures optimal conditions for the eggs to incubate and provides them with protection from predators. Here, the direction-dependent biomechanics of the locust's major, dorsal digging valves are quantified and analysed under forces in the physiological range and beyond, considering the hydration level as well as the females' sexual maturation state. Our findings reveal that the responses of the valves to compression forces in the digging and propagation directions change upon sexual maturation to follow their function and depend on environmental conditions. In addition, mature females, which lay eggs, have stiffer valves, up to approximately 19 times the stiffness of the pre-mature locusts. The valves are stiffer in the major working direction, corresponding to soil shuffling and compression, compared with the direction of propagation. Hydration of the valves reduces their stiffness but increases their resilience against failure. These findings provide mechanical and materials guidelines for the design of novel non-drilling burrowing tools, including three-dimensionally printed anisotropic materials based on composites
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spelling pubmed-89238212022-07-20 The biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus Das, Rakesh Gershon, Shmuel Bar-On, Benny Tadayon, Maryam Ayali, Amir Pinchasik, Bat-El J R Soc Interface Life Sciences–Physics interface The female locust has a unique mechanism for digging in order to deposit its eggs deep in the ground. It uses two pairs of sclerotized valves to displace the granular matter, while extending its abdomen as it propagates underground. This ensures optimal conditions for the eggs to incubate and provides them with protection from predators. Here, the direction-dependent biomechanics of the locust's major, dorsal digging valves are quantified and analysed under forces in the physiological range and beyond, considering the hydration level as well as the females' sexual maturation state. Our findings reveal that the responses of the valves to compression forces in the digging and propagation directions change upon sexual maturation to follow their function and depend on environmental conditions. In addition, mature females, which lay eggs, have stiffer valves, up to approximately 19 times the stiffness of the pre-mature locusts. The valves are stiffer in the major working direction, corresponding to soil shuffling and compression, compared with the direction of propagation. Hydration of the valves reduces their stiffness but increases their resilience against failure. These findings provide mechanical and materials guidelines for the design of novel non-drilling burrowing tools, including three-dimensionally printed anisotropic materials based on composites The Royal Society 2022-03-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8923821/ /pubmed/35291831 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0955 Text en © 2022 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Life Sciences–Physics interface
Das, Rakesh
Gershon, Shmuel
Bar-On, Benny
Tadayon, Maryam
Ayali, Amir
Pinchasik, Bat-El
The biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus
title The biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus
title_full The biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus
title_fullStr The biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus
title_full_unstemmed The biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus
title_short The biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus
title_sort biomechanics of the locust ovipositor valves: a unique digging apparatus
topic Life Sciences–Physics interface
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8923821/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35291831
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0955
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