Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ortega-Jimenez VM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5046919 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Ortega-Jiménez Victor Manuel VM Arriaga-Ramirez Sarahi S Dudley Robert R
Biology letters 20160901 9
Meniscus climbing using a fixed body posture has been well documented for various aquatic and neustonic insects, but is not known from small flying insects that inadvertently become trapped on water surfaces. Here, we show that thrips (order Thysanoptera) can ascend a meniscus by arching their non-wetting bodies to translate head-first and upward along a water surface; if initially oriented backwards, they can turn by 180° to ascend head-first, and climb upward on a surrounding boundary. Using v ...[more]