Paper highlights: Mechanism of vibration generation in planthoppers
Paper highlights: Mechanism of vibration generation in planthoppers
13/03/2019
Dr Alice Cicirello (Engineering Science Departments, University of Oxford) and researchers at the Zoology Department at the University of Oxford describe how a newly-discovered “snapping organ” enables courting bugs of both sexes to produce this shaking motion through a combination of muscle action and elastic recoil.
Planthoppers (Agalmatium bilobum, pictured). Credit: L.-R. Davranoglou
Davranoglou L-R, Cicirello A, Taylor GK, Mortimer B (2019) Planthopper bugs use a fast, cyclic elastic recoil mechanism for effective vibrational communication at small body size. PLoS Biol 17(3): e3000155. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000155
Oxford Engineering Science Department Press release
Oxford University Press release