Strong attachment as an adaptation of flightless weevils on windy oceanic islands
Data files
Apr 24, 2024 version files 11.99 KB
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centrifugal_exp.csv
2.85 KB
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compare_with_other_arthropods.csv
2.70 KB
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README.md
4.09 KB
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teneral.csv
313 B
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weevil_attachment.csv
2.04 KB
Abstract
Enhanced attachment ability is common in plants on islands to avoid potential fatal passive dispersal. However, whether island insects also have increased attachment ability remains unclear. Here we measured the attachment of a flightless weevil, Pachyrhynchus sarcitis kotoensis, from tropical islands, and compared it with documented arthropods from the mainland. We examined the morphology and material gradient of its attachment devices to identify the specific adaptive modifications for attachment. We find that the weevil has much stronger attachment force and higher safety factor than previously studied arthropods, regardless of body size and substrate roughness. This probably results from the specific flexible bases of the adhesive setae on the third footpad of the legs. This softer material on the setal base has not been reported hitherto and we suggest that it acts as a flexible hinge to form intimate contact to substrate more effectively. By contrast, no morphological difference in tarsomeres and setae between the weevil and other beetles is observed. Our results show the remarkably strong attachment of an island insect and highlights the potential adaptive benefits of strong attachment in windy island environment. The unique soft bases of the adhesive hairs may inspire the development of strong biomimetic adhesives.
README: Data from: Strong attachment as an adaptation of flightless weevil on windy oceanic island
The dataset belongs to Lu-Yi Wang1,2*, Chung-Ping Lin3*, Stanislav N. Gorb2*, Hamed Rajabi1,4*
1 School of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2 Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Institute of Zoology, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
3 Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
4 Division of Mechanical Engineering and Design, School of Engineering, London South Bank University, London, UK
*Corresponding author: Lu-Yi Wang (luyiwangtw@gmail.com, luyiw@student.unimelb.edu.au), Chung-Ping Lin (treehopper@ntnu.edu.tw), Stanislav N. Gorb (sgorb@zoologie.uni-kiel.de), Hamed Rajabi (rajabijh@lsbu.ac.uk)
This dataset includes 5 different components as listed below
- centrifugal exp.csv
- teneral.csv
- weevil attachment.csv
- compare with other arthropods.csv
- Weevil adhesion.Rmd
centrifugal exp.csv
The data from the centrigual experiment on the mature weevils.
- type: The weevil is mature (hard) or newly enclosed (soft)
- surface: Surface roughness the trial was performed on (entry: glass/s0.3/s3/s12; the value refers to the sand paper size, not the grain size. For grain size, see the paper.)
- sex: Gender of the weevil (male/female/uncertain)
- medium force: Medium force of the weevil from the five trials (unit: millinewton)
- medium sf: Medium safety factor of the weevil from the five trials; Safety factor is calculated as medium force divided by the body weight of the weevil. (no unit)
- id: The ID of the weevil
- claw.condition: Whether the weevil's claws were intact or surgically removed (with claw/clawless)
teneral.csv
The data from the centrigual experiment on the teneral weevils
- type: The weevil is mature (hard) or newly enclosed (soft)
- surface: Surface roughness the trial was performed on (glass/s0.3/s3/s12)
- sex: Gender of the weevil (male/female/uncertain)
- medium force: Medium force of the weevil from the five trials (unit: millinewton)
- medium sf: Medium safety factor of the weevil from the five trials; Safety factor is calculated as medium force divided by the body weight of the weevil. (no unit)
- id: The ID of the weevil
- claw.condition: Whether the weevil's claws were intact or surgically removed (with claw/clawless)
weevil attachment.csv
The data of the mature intact (with claws) weevil. This is the data format used to compare with other arthropods
species surface force safety factor method.
- order: The order of the weevil
- species: species name
- surface: Surface roughness the trial was performed on (entry: glass/s0.3/s3/s12; the value refers to the sand paper size, not the grain size. For grain size, see the paper.)
- fore: Medium force of the weevil from the five trials (unit: millinewton)
- safety factor: Medium safety factor of the weevil from the five trials; Safety factor is calculated as medium force divided by the body weight of the weevil. (no unit)
- method: The methods used for measuring the attachment force (in this file, all are measured using centralfugal setup)
compare with other arthropods.csv
The attachment data of arthropods from literature for comparison with the mature weevils
- order: The order of the arthropods
- species: species name
- surface: Surface roughness the trial was performed on
- fore: Medium force of the arthropods from the literature (unit: millinewton)
- safety factor: Safety factor of the arthropods from the literature. As it is calculated as force/weight, it is unit free. (no unit)
- method: The methods used for measuring the attachment force (centralfugal setup/pull-off/traction force tester)
Weevil adhesion.Rmd (uploaded to Zenodo)
The Rmarkdown file for the statistical analyses and plotting in the manuscript.