An augmented wood-penetrating structure: Cicada ovipositors enhanced with metals and other inorganic elements.

ABSTRACT: Few insect species are as popular as periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.). Despite representing an enormous biomass and numbers that exceed 370/m² during mass emergences, the extended time period of the underground nymphal stages (up to 17 years) complicates investigations of their life history traits and ecology. Upon emergence, female cicadas mate and then use their ovipositors to cut through wood to lay their eggs. Given the ability to penetrate into wood, we hypothesized that the ovipositor cuticle is augmented with inorganic elements, which could increase hardness and reduce ovipositor fracturing. We used scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy to evaluate the material properties of ovipositors of four cicada species, including three species of

SUBMITTER: Lehnert MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6930284 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature