Sexually selected ornaments and weapons are among nature's most extravagant morphologies. Both ornaments and weapons improve a male's reproductive success; yet, unlike ornaments that need only attract females, weapons must be robust and functional structures because they are frequently tested during male-male combat. Consequently, weapons are expected to be particularly costly to bear. Here, we tested the aerodynamic costs of horns in the giant rhinoceros beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus. We predicted that the long, forked head horn would have three main effects on flight performance: increased body mass, an anterior shift in the centre of mass and increased body drag. We found that the horns were surprisingly lightweight, and therefore had a trivial effect on the male beetles' total mass and mass distribution. Furthermore, because beetles typically fly at slow speeds and high body angles, horns had little effect on total body drag. Together, the weight and the drag of horns increased the overall force required to fly by less than 3 per cent, even in the largest males. Because low-cost structures are expected to be highly evolutionarily labile, the fact that horns incur very minor flight costs may have permitted both the elaboration and diversification of rhinoceros beetle horns.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0197 | DOI Listing |
Biomimetics (Basel)
December 2024
Lab of Locomotion Bioinspiration and Intelligent Robots, College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China.
In recent years, bioinspired insect flight has become a prominent research area, with a particular focus on beetle-inspired aerial vehicles. Studying the unique flight mechanisms and structural characteristics of beetles has significant implications for the optimization of biomimetic flying devices. Among beetles, (rhinoceros beetle) exhibits a distinct wing deployment-flight-retraction sequence, whereby the interaction between the hindwings and protective elytra contributes to lift generation and maintenance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInsects
October 2024
College of Life Science, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, China.
The Asiatic rhinoceros beetle, (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), is a destructive invasive species that poses a serious threat to palms, oil palms, and other plants. Defining a suitable area for the distribution of is essential for the development of appropriate policies and preventive measures. In this work, the MaxEnt niche model and ArcGIS software were used to predict the potential geographic distribution of in the world based on occurrence data and related environmental variables and to speculate on the influence of environmental variables on the distribution of .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFungal Biol
November 2024
AgResearch Ltd., Lincoln, New Zealand.
Arch Microbiol
September 2024
AgResearch Ltd., 19 Ellesmere Junction Road, Lincoln, 7674, New Zealand.
Appl Environ Microbiol
October 2024
Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
The coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB, ) is a palm tree pest capable of rapidly expanding its population in new territories. Previous studies identified a digestive symbiosis between CRB and its gut microbes. However, no research compared the genetic variation of CRBs with their hindgut microbiota on a global scale.
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