English
 
Help Privacy Policy Disclaimer
  Advanced SearchBrowse
  1. View item / 
  2. Item Summary

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT
Add to Basket
  Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released
Journal Article

Serial elastic elements in the damselfly wing: mobile vein joints contain resilin

MPS-Authors
/persons/resource/persons75513

Gorb,  SN       
Department Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Max Planck Society;

External Resource
No external resources are shared
Fulltext (restricted access)
There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.
Fulltext (public)
There are no public fulltexts stored in PuRe
Supplementary Material (public)
There is no public supplementary material available
Citation

Gorb, S. (1999). Serial elastic elements in the damselfly wing: mobile vein joints contain resilin. Naturwissenschaften, 86(11), 552-555. doi:10.1007/s001140050674.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000D-11BC-C
Abstract
Two main types of joints occur in the damselfly wing: mobile and immobile. Some longitudinal veins (RP2(-), RP3&4(-), and MP(-)) are elastically joined with cross veins, whereas other longitudinal veins (IR1(+), IR2(+), MA(+), CuA'(+)) are firmly joined with cross veins. In this study we mapped the distribution of serial elastic elements in the wing. The occurrence of resilin, a rubberlike protein, in mobile joints suggests that the automatic twisting mechanism of the leading edge by aerodynamic force works not by flexibility but by the elasticity of these joints. First, it should result in elastic energy storage in the distal areas of the wing. Second, serial elastic elements of wing presumably act as dampers of an aerodynamic force, which are responsible for gradual twisting of the leading edge.