Rate-dependent adhesion in combination with the synergetic action of limbs facilitates grasshoppers’ reliable attachment under extreme conditions

Description

The data shows the maximum force s and corresponding pulling speeds when grasshoppers were challenged with slow and extremely fast pulling.

Steps to reproduce

Grasshoppers (Oxya chinensis) captured at Purple Mountain (Nanjing, China) were glued with their dorsal thorax surface to a thin rod (diameter 1.5 mm), which was then attached to a multi-axis force transducer[19]. A glass rod (diameter 6mm) was used to mimic convex substrates typical for the habitat of this animal. The substrate was attached to a two-dimensional mobile platform so that its displacement and velocity can be controlled (Fig.1). The substrate was first moved towards the animal until its thorax touched the substrate. After several seconds given for the insects to establish an initial contact, we moved the rod away from the animal. The force signals were collected through an NI DAQ model (SCXI 1000, NI, USA) at a rate of 1000 Hz and the motion was filmed by a high-speed camera (I-Speed 3, Olympus, Japan) at 1000fps. Twelve grasshoppers (body mass 0.1-1.0g, snout-event length LSV: 2-4cm). We first tested them at a moderate speed of about 0.2 LSV/s (7.0±1.9mm/s ) and then increased the speed to very large values (10-25 LSV/s, 300-600 mm/s).

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