Two functional types of attachment pads on a single foot in the Namibia bush cricket Acanthoproctus diadematus (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae).

ABSTRACT: Insects have developed different structures to adhere to surfaces. Most common are smooth and hairy attachment pads, while nubby pads have also been described for representatives of Mantophasmatodea, Phasmida and Plecoptera. Here we report on the unusual combination of nubby and smooth tarsal attachment structures in the !nara cricket Acanthoproctus diadematus. Their three proximal tarsal pads (euplantulae) have a nubby surface, whereas the most distal euplantula is rather smooth with a hexagonal ground pattern resembling that described for the great green bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima. This is, to our knowledge, the first report on nubby euplantulae in Orthoptera and the co-occurrence of nubby and smooth euplantulae on a single tarsus in a polyneopteran species. When adhering upside

SUBMITTER: Grohmann C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4590436 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature