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Microstructure and Hydrophobicity of the External Surface of a Sonoran Desert Beetle

We have studied the external surface (elytra) of the Sonoran Desert beetle (Eleodes eschscholtzii). Our aim was to assess whether this species has similar traits to some beetles from the Namibian Desert that are known to have hierarchical micropatterns that allow for water harvesting. We have conduc...

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Autores principales: Tellechea-Robles, Luis E., Méndez-Alonzo, Rodrigo, Molina-Freaner, Francisco E., Maldonado, Amir
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9036228/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35466255
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7020038
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author Tellechea-Robles, Luis E.
Méndez-Alonzo, Rodrigo
Molina-Freaner, Francisco E.
Maldonado, Amir
author_facet Tellechea-Robles, Luis E.
Méndez-Alonzo, Rodrigo
Molina-Freaner, Francisco E.
Maldonado, Amir
author_sort Tellechea-Robles, Luis E.
collection PubMed
description We have studied the external surface (elytra) of the Sonoran Desert beetle (Eleodes eschscholtzii). Our aim was to assess whether this species has similar traits to some beetles from the Namibian Desert that are known to have hierarchical micropatterns that allow for water harvesting. We have conducted scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and apparent contact angle experiments on specimens collected at two sampling sites with different ambient humidity. The results show that the beetle’s external surface microstructure is composed of a compact array of polygons with randomly scattered protuberances. The density of the polygons in the microstructure is different for individuals collected in different sites: the polygon array is denser in the more humid site and less dense in the drier site. The measured contact angles also depend on the sampling site. For individuals collected in the drier site, the average apparent contact angle is 70°, whereas for the more humid site, the average apparent contact angle is 92°. FT-IR experiments are consistent with the presence of hydrophobic wax compounds in the studied surfaces. Our investigation opens new questions that are currently being addressed by experiments that are underway. For instance, it would be interesting to know whether the observed nanopatterns could be used in biomimetic devices for water harvesting purposes.
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spelling pubmed-90362282022-04-26 Microstructure and Hydrophobicity of the External Surface of a Sonoran Desert Beetle Tellechea-Robles, Luis E. Méndez-Alonzo, Rodrigo Molina-Freaner, Francisco E. Maldonado, Amir Biomimetics (Basel) Article We have studied the external surface (elytra) of the Sonoran Desert beetle (Eleodes eschscholtzii). Our aim was to assess whether this species has similar traits to some beetles from the Namibian Desert that are known to have hierarchical micropatterns that allow for water harvesting. We have conducted scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and apparent contact angle experiments on specimens collected at two sampling sites with different ambient humidity. The results show that the beetle’s external surface microstructure is composed of a compact array of polygons with randomly scattered protuberances. The density of the polygons in the microstructure is different for individuals collected in different sites: the polygon array is denser in the more humid site and less dense in the drier site. The measured contact angles also depend on the sampling site. For individuals collected in the drier site, the average apparent contact angle is 70°, whereas for the more humid site, the average apparent contact angle is 92°. FT-IR experiments are consistent with the presence of hydrophobic wax compounds in the studied surfaces. Our investigation opens new questions that are currently being addressed by experiments that are underway. For instance, it would be interesting to know whether the observed nanopatterns could be used in biomimetic devices for water harvesting purposes. MDPI 2022-03-31 /pmc/articles/PMC9036228/ /pubmed/35466255 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7020038 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Tellechea-Robles, Luis E.
Méndez-Alonzo, Rodrigo
Molina-Freaner, Francisco E.
Maldonado, Amir
Microstructure and Hydrophobicity of the External Surface of a Sonoran Desert Beetle
title Microstructure and Hydrophobicity of the External Surface of a Sonoran Desert Beetle
title_full Microstructure and Hydrophobicity of the External Surface of a Sonoran Desert Beetle
title_fullStr Microstructure and Hydrophobicity of the External Surface of a Sonoran Desert Beetle
title_full_unstemmed Microstructure and Hydrophobicity of the External Surface of a Sonoran Desert Beetle
title_short Microstructure and Hydrophobicity of the External Surface of a Sonoran Desert Beetle
title_sort microstructure and hydrophobicity of the external surface of a sonoran desert beetle
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9036228/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35466255
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7020038
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