Mantises Jump from Smooth Surfaces by Pushing with "Heel" Pads of Their Hind Legs.

ABSTRACT: Juvenile mantises can jump towards targets by rapidly extending their middle and hind legs. Here, we investigate how mantises can perform jumps from smooth surfaces such as those found on many plants. Stagmomantis theophila mantises possess two distinct types of attachment pads on each foot: three small proximal euplantulae ("heel pads") with microscopic cuticular ridges and one smooth large distal pair of euplantulae ("toe pad"). Microscopy showed that the surface contact of heel pads is strongly load-dependent; at low normal forces, they make only partial surface contact due to the ridges, but at higher loads they switch to larger areas in full contact. By analysing the kinematics of 64 jumps of 23 third-instar nymphs from glass surfaces and the foot contact areas of their acceler

SUBMITTER: Goetzke HH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11852473 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature