Scientists have discovered what they believe is the first example of interacting gears in young planthopper insects, Issus coleoptratus. The gears are on the upper portion of the insect's rear legs and help ensure the legs work in unison when the insect jumps. These gears are lost as the animal ages and are thus rather like training gears.
![Image of functional gears on the hind limb of a planthopper from study author Dr. Malcolm Burrows. The view is looking up from underneath the insect.](/files/lifelines/files/2013/09/insect-gears.jpg)
Dr. Malcom Burrows (Emeritus Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Cambridge, UK) was quoted in Live Science as saying "To the best of my knowledge, it's the first demonstration of functioning gears in any animal."
Here is a video of the gears in action:
Source:
Burrows M, Sutton G. Interacting gears synchronize propulsive leg movements in a jumping insect. Science. 341(6151):1254-1256, 2013.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Serotonin is a chemical jack-of-all-trades. It relays messages between the cells of the brain and in doing so, controls everything from anger to sleep, body temperature to appetite. But in one insect, it is the key to Pandora's box, periodically unleashing some of the most destructive swarms on the…
Student's Research With Disney Giraffes May Help Conserve Several Species:
University of Central Florida doctoral student Jennifer Fewster is studying giraffe excrement at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge in Lake Buena Vista in an effort to figure out what the animals eat in the wild and to improve…
I have heard of some animals using sugars as antifreeze (check out the prior blog on wood frogs that freeze and survive!), but never lipids.
Image from http://thebuggeek.com/tag/eurosta-solidaginis/
Researchers have discovered that larva of the Goldenrod gall fly (Eurosta solidaginis) shown…
tags: beetle, insects, physiology, respiration
An X-ray of a yellow mealworm beetle showing the system of white tubes, or tracheae, running through its body.
When I worked with and dissected insects as a graduate student, I always found their breathing apparatus to be fascinating and beautiful,…
Great article. Cockroaches,Firefly and other insects offer great ideas for adoption. Bio mimicking at its best.
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
You have a beuatiful blog, just bookmarked it.
Yes, I wonder which HOX clusters made that?
Really cool...it says in the LA times that researchers weren't even looking for these gears when they came across them. Now that scientists are aware of these gears they can look for them in other organisms.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-leg-gears-20130914,0,1476077.story