An augmented wood-penetrating structure: Cicada ovipositors enhanced with metals and other inorganic elements

Few insect species are as popular as periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.). Despite representing an enormous biomass and numbers that exceed 370/m during mass emergences, the extended time period of the underground nymphal stages (up to 17 years) complicates investigations of their life history trait...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-12, Vol.9 (1), p.19731-10, Article 19731
Main Authors: Lehnert, Matthew S, Reiter, Kristen E, Smith, Gregory A, Kritsky, Gene
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animals
Cicadidae
Eggs
Female
Hemiptera
Hemiptera - physiology
Life history
Manganese
Metals
Metals - metabolism
Morphology
Oviposition - physiology
Ovipositor
Scanning electron microscopy
Species
Teeth
Wood
X-ray spectroscopy
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Summary:Few insect species are as popular as periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.). Despite representing an enormous biomass and numbers that exceed 370/m during mass emergences, the extended time period of the underground nymphal stages (up to 17 years) complicates investigations of their life history traits and ecology. Upon emergence, female cicadas mate and then use their ovipositors to cut through wood to lay their eggs. Given the ability to penetrate into wood, we hypothesized that the ovipositor cuticle is augmented with inorganic elements, which could increase hardness and reduce ovipositor fracturing. We used scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy to evaluate the material properties of ovipositors of four cicada species, including three species of periodical cicadas. We found 14 inorganic elements of the cuticle, of which P, Ca, Si, Mg, Na, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cl, K, and S show the highest concentrations (%wt) near the apex of the ovipositor, where other structural modifications for penetrating wood are present. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of metal deposits in the cuticle of true bugs (Hemiptera, >80,000 described species).
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-56203-6