How Aphids Lose Their Marbles

by: Nathan Pike, Denis Richard, William Foster, L Mahadevan

Proceedings: Biological Sciences, Vol. 269, No. 1497. (2002), pp. 1211-1215.

View FullText article

DOI, JSTOR

Reviews [Write a review of this article]

There are no reviews of this article

Find related articles from these CiteULike users

kathrynmrobinson

Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

aphid

Abstract

Insects provide examples of many cunning stratagems to cope with the challenges of living in a world dominated by surface forces. Despite being the current masters of the land environment, they are at constant risk of being entrapped in liquids, which they prevent by having waxy and hairy surfaces. The problem is particularly acute in an enclosed space, such as a plant gall. Using secreted wax to efficiently parcel and transport their own excrement, aphids were able to solve this problem 200 Myr ago. Here, we report on the physical and physiological significance of this ingenious solution. The secreted powdery wax has three distinct roles: (i) it is hydrophobic, (ii) it creates a microscopically rough inner gall surface made of weakly compacted wax needles making the gall ultra-hydrophobic, and (iii) it coats the honeydew droplets converting them into liquid marbles, that can be rapidly and efficiently moved.

@article{citeulike:2902779, abstract = {Insects provide examples of many cunning stratagems to cope with the challenges of living in a world dominated by surface forces. Despite being the current masters of the land environment, they are at constant risk of being entrapped in liquids, which they prevent by having waxy and hairy surfaces. The problem is particularly acute in an enclosed space, such as a plant gall. Using secreted wax to efficiently parcel and transport their own excrement, aphids were able to solve this problem 200 Myr ago. Here, we report on the physical and physiological significance of this ingenious solution. The secreted powdery wax has three distinct roles: (i) it is hydrophobic, (ii) it creates a microscopically rough inner gall surface made of weakly compacted wax needles making the gall ultra-hydrophobic, and (iii) it coats the honeydew droplets converting them into liquid marbles, that can be rapidly and efficiently moved.}, author = {Pike, Nathan and Richard, Denis and Foster, William and Mahadevan, L. }, citeulike-article-id = {2902779}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3067894}, journal = {Proceedings: Biological Sciences}, keywords = {aphid}, number = {1497}, pages = {1211--1215}, posted-at = {2008-06-17 17:04:29}, priority = {2}, publisher = {The Royal Society}, title = {How Aphids Lose Their Marbles}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3067894}, volume = {269}, year = {2002} }

RIS record

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2902779 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2902779 TI - How Aphids Lose Their Marbles JF - Proceedings: Biological Sciences VL - 269 IS - 1497 SP - 1211 EP - 1215 PB - The Royal Society N2 - Insects provide examples of many cunning stratagems to cope with the challenges of living in a world dominated by surface forces. Despite being the current masters of the land environment, they are at constant risk of being entrapped in liquids, which they prevent by having waxy and hairy surfaces. The problem is particularly acute in an enclosed space, such as a plant gall. Using secreted wax to efficiently parcel and transport their own excrement, aphids were able to solve this problem 200 Myr ago. Here, we report on the physical and physiological significance of this ingenious solution. The secreted powdery wax has three distinct roles: (i) it is hydrophobic, (ii) it creates a microscopically rough inner gall surface made of weakly compacted wax needles making the gall ultra-hydrophobic, and (iii) it coats the honeydew droplets converting them into liquid marbles, that can be rapidly and efficiently moved. KW - aphid AU - Pike, Nathan AU - Richard, Denis AU - Foster, William AU - Mahadevan, L PY - 2002/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3067894 ER -

RIS BibTeX