Group items tagged

Issus coleoptratus

juveniles

The researchers’ high-speed videos showed that the creatures

, is believed to be the first functional gearing system ever discovered in nature

The finding,

used electron microscopes and high-speed video capture to discover the existence of the gearing and figure out its exact function.

To jump, both of the insect’s hind legs must push forward at the exact same time

The reason for the gearing, they say, is coordination

have an intricate gearing system that locks their back legs together, allowing both appendages to rotate at the exact same instant, causing the tiny creatures jump forward.

cocked their back legs in a jumping position, then pushed forward, with each moving within 30 microseconds

if one tooth breaks, it limits the effectiveness of the design

30 millionths of a second

the skeleton is used to solve a complex problem that the brain and nervous system can’t

The gears are located at the top of the insects’ hind legs

and include 10 to 12 tapered teeth, each about 80 micrometers wide (or 80 millionths of a meter).

In all the Issus hoppers studied, the same number of teeth were present on each hind leg, and the gears locked together neatly

adults of the same insect species don’t have any gearing—as the juveniles grow up and their skin molts away

the adult legs are synchronized by an alternate mechanism (a series of protrusions extend from both hind legs, and push the other leg into action).

hypothesize that this could be explained by the fragility of the gearing

jump at speeds as high as 8.7 miles per hour

isn’t such a big problem for the juveniles, who repeatedly molt and grow new gears before adulthood

for the mature Issus, replacing the teeth would be impossible

There have been gear-like structures previously found on other animals

but they’re purely ornamental