Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores

Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E.; Gerard, Patrick D.; Wei, Qi-Huo; Byler, Miranda; Yan, Huan; Lee, Wah-Keat

doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.2026

Title: Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores

Journal Article · Wed Jan 04 00:00:00 UTC 2017 · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2026 · OSTI ID:1341685

; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E.; Gerard, Patrick D.; Wei, Qi-Huo; Byler, Miranda; Yan, Huan; Lee, Wah-Keat

Fluid-feeding insects, such as butterflies, moths, and flies (20% of all animal species), are faced with the common selection pressure of having to remove and feed on trace amounts of fluids from porous surfaces. Insects able to acquire fluids that are confined to pores during drought conditions would have an adaptive advantage and increased fitness over other individuals. Here we performed feeding trials using solutions with magnetic nanoparticles to show that butterflies and flies have mouthparts adapted to pull liquids from porous surfaces using capillary action as the governing principle. In addition, the ability to feed on the liquids collected from pores depends on a relationship between the diameter of the mouthpart conduits and substrate pore size diameter; insects with mouthpart conduit diameters larger than the pores cannot successfully feed, thus there is a limiting substrate pore size from which each species can acquire liquids for fluid uptake. In conclusion, given that natural selection independently favored mouthpart architectures that support these methods of fluid uptake (Diptera and Lepidoptera share a common ancestor 280 mya that had chewing mouthparts), we suggest that the convergence of this mechanism advocates this as an optimal strategy for pulling trace amounts of fluids from porous surfaces.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1341685

Report Number(s):: BNL--113414-2017-JA

Journal Information:: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Journal Name: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Journal Issue: 1846 Vol. 284; ISSN 0962-8452

Publisher:: The Royal Society PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Sperm transfer through hyper-elongated beetle penises – morphology and theoretical approaches Matsumura, Yoko; Michels, Jan; Rajabi, Hamed Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46211-x	journal	July 2019
An augmented wood-penetrating structure: Cicada ovipositors enhanced with metals and other inorganic elements Lehnert, Matthew S.; Reiter, Kristen E.; Smith, Gregory A. Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56203-6	journal	December 2019
Data from: Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, M. S.; Bennett, A.; Reiter, K. E. Dryad, 22.83 Kb https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b167g	dataset	December 2016
Sperm transfer through hyper-elongated beetle penises – morphology and theoretical approaches Matsumura, Yoko; Michels, Jan; Rajabi, Hamed Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46211-x	journal	July 2019
A quick tongue: older honey bees dip nectar faster to compensate for mouthpart structure deterioration Wu, Jianing; Chen, Yue; Li, Chuchu The Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol. 222, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.212191	journal	October 2019
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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
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Data from: Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, M. S.; Bennett, A.; Reiter, K. E. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b167g The current record is supplemented by this dataset	dataset	December 2016
Figure S2. Correlation between mouthpart conduit and limiting substrate pore size radii for tested species. from Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.4535324 The current record is supplemented by this image	image	January 2017
Table S1. Relationship of insect body and mouthpart sizes.; Table S2. Ability for prefed insects to feed from filter pore.; Table S3. Ability for insects in the unfed treatment to feed from particular filter pore sizes. from Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4535318 The current record is supplemented by this text	text	January 2017
Table S1. Relationship of insect body and mouthpart sizes.; Table S2. Ability for prefed insects to feed from filter pore.; Table S3. Ability for insects in the unfed treatment to feed from particular filter pore sizes. from Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4535318.v1 The current record is supplemented by this text	text	January 2017
Video 1. Movement of fluorescent, magnetic nanoparticles inside the crop of C. vomitoria. The nanoparticles are moving in response to a magnetic stir bar that was waved near the crop. The video was acquired using an Olympus IX81 confocal microscope. from Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4535321 The current record is supplemented by this audiovisual	audiovisual	January 2017
Video 1. Movement of fluorescent, magnetic nanoparticles inside the crop of C. vomitoria. The nanoparticles are moving in response to a magnetic stir bar that was waved near the crop. The video was acquired using an Olympus IX81 confocal microscope. from Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4535321.v1 The current record is supplemented by this audiovisual	audiovisual	January 2017
Figure S2. Correlation between mouthpart conduit and limiting substrate pore size radii for tested species. from Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4535324.v1 The current record is supplemented by this image	image	January 2017
Figure S1. Correlation between the forewing length and distal mouthpart measurements of studied insect species. from Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4535327 The current record is supplemented by this image	image	January 2017
Figure S1. Correlation between the forewing length and distal mouthpart measurements of studied insect species. from Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4535327.v1 The current record is supplemented by this image	image	January 2017
Supplementary material from "Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores" Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3661883 The current record is supplemented by this dataset	dataset	January 2017
Supplementary material from "Mouthpart conduit sizes of fluid-feeding insects determine the ability to feed from pores" Lehnert, Matthew S.; Bennett, Andrew; Reiter, Kristen E. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3661883.v1 The current record is supplemented by this dataset	dataset	January 2017