On Heels and Toes: How Ants Climb with Adhesive Pads and Tarsal Friction Hair Arrays.

ABSTRACT: Ants are able to climb effortlessly on vertical and inverted smooth surfaces. When climbing, their feet touch the substrate not only with their pretarsal adhesive pads but also with dense arrays of fine hairs on the ventral side of the 3rd and 4th tarsal segments. To understand what role these different attachment structures play during locomotion, we analysed leg kinematics and recorded single-leg ground reaction forces in Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) climbing vertically on a smooth glass substrate. We found that the ants engaged different attachment structures depending on whether their feet were above or below their Centre of Mass (CoM). Legs above the CoM pulled and engaged the arolia ('toes'), whereas legs below the CoM pushed with the 3rd and 4th tarsomeres ('heels') in surfac

SUBMITTER: Endlein T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4641605 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature