Adhesion and running speed of a tropical arboreal ant (Cephalotes atratus) on wet substrates.

ABSTRACT: In the tropical forest canopy, wingless worker ants must cling to and run along diverse vegetative surfaces with little protection from sun, wind and rain. Ants rely in part on their tiny adhesive tarsal pads to maintain sufficient contact with substrates to prevent falls under these varied conditions. Here, we examined the effects of substrate wettability and surface water on the tarsal pad adhesive performance of a common tropical arboreal ant. Ant adhesion was consistently higher on an intermediately wetting substrate (static water contact angle ca 90°) when resisting both perpendicular (normal) force and parallel (shear) force. Normal adhesion was maintained on intermediately wetting and hydrophobic substrates following the addition of rain-mimicking water droplets, whereas shea

SUBMITTER: Stark AY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6281928 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature