Material composition of the mouthpart cuticle in a damselfly larva (Insecta: Odonata) and its biomechanical significance.

Sebastian Büsse,Stanislav N Gorb

doi:10.1098/rsos.172117

Abstract

Odonata larvae are key predators in their habitats. They catch prey with a unique and highly efficient apparatus, the prehensile mask. The mandibles and maxillae, however, play the lead in handling and crushing the food. The material composition of the cuticle in the biomechanical system of the larval mouthparts has not been studied so far. We used confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) to detect material gradients in the cuticle by differences in autofluorescence. Our results show variations of materials in different areas of the mouthparts: (i) resilin-dominated pads within the membranous transition between the labrum and the anteclypeus, which support mobility and might provide shock absorption, an adaptation against mechanical damage; (ii) high degrees of sclerotization in the incisivi of the mandibles, where high forces occur when crushing the prey's body wall. The interaction of the cuticle geometry, the material composition and the related musculature determine the complex concerted movements of the mouthparts. The material composition influences the strength, mobility and durability of the cuticular components of the mouthparts. Applying CLSM for extracting information about material composition and material properties of arthropod cuticles will considerably help improve finite-element modelling studies.

Highlights

Insect cuticle is a complex composite material with a great variety of material properties
The labrum is slightly kidney-shaped, and its antero-ventral part is flat and laterally extended. It is covered with four different kinds of setae: (i) strong, short, chitin-dominated setae, median at the ventral surface; (ii) long, chitin-dominated setae, lateral of the median setal area; (iii) setae on the lateral surface of the labrum with chitinous cuticle at the base only and blue autofluorescence along the remaining two-thirds of their length; and (iv) short and icps clp cls lbr set d y
The ventro-median area of the labrum shows a higher amount of the viscoelastic protein resilin compared with other regions of the labrum

Summary

Introduction

Insect cuticle is a complex composite material with a great variety of material properties. It possesses a range of mechanical specializations, for example, high compliance, storage of elastic energy, adhesion and wear resistance in specific body regions [1,2,3]. These functions are facilitated by the immense variety of materials in the insect cuticle and by their fundamentally different mechanical properties.

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