Mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosion-induced defensive spray pulsation
Bombardier beetles (Brachinini) use a rapid series of discrete explosions inside their pygidial gland reaction chambers to produce a hot, pulsed, quinone-based defensive spray. The mechanism of brachinines’ spray pulsation was explored using anatomical studies and direct observation of explosions in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96867 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3511-5679 |
| _version_ | 1811076987903541248 |
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| author | Arndt, Eric Michael Moore, Wendy Lee, Wah-Keat Ortiz, Christine |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering Arndt, Eric Michael Moore, Wendy Lee, Wah-Keat Ortiz, Christine |
| author_sort | Arndt, Eric Michael |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Bombardier beetles (Brachinini) use a rapid series of discrete explosions inside their pygidial gland reaction chambers to produce a hot, pulsed, quinone-based defensive spray. The mechanism of brachinines’ spray pulsation was explored using anatomical studies and direct observation of explosions inside living beetles using synchrotron x-ray imaging. Quantification of the dynamics of vapor inside the reaction chamber indicates that spray pulsation is controlled by specialized, contiguous cuticular structures located at the junction between the reservoir (reactant) and reaction chambers. Kinematics models suggest passive mediation of spray pulsation by mechanical feedback from the explosion, causing displacement of these structures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:34:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/96867 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:34:10Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/968672022-09-30T21:41:02Z Mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosion-induced defensive spray pulsation Arndt, Eric Michael Moore, Wendy Lee, Wah-Keat Ortiz, Christine Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering Arndt, Eric Michael Ortiz, Christine Bombardier beetles (Brachinini) use a rapid series of discrete explosions inside their pygidial gland reaction chambers to produce a hot, pulsed, quinone-based defensive spray. The mechanism of brachinines’ spray pulsation was explored using anatomical studies and direct observation of explosions inside living beetles using synchrotron x-ray imaging. Quantification of the dynamics of vapor inside the reaction chamber indicates that spray pulsation is controlled by specialized, contiguous cuticular structures located at the junction between the reservoir (reactant) and reaction chambers. Kinematics models suggest passive mediation of spray pulsation by mechanical feedback from the explosion, causing displacement of these structures. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (Contract W911NF-13-D-0001) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Contract DMR-08-19762) United States. Dept. of Defense (National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship Contract N00244-09-1-0064) United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Award DE-SC0012704)) 2015-05-01T14:45:37Z 2015-05-01T14:45:37Z 2015-04 2014-09 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0036-8075 1095-9203 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96867 Arndt, E. M. et al. “Mechanistic Origins of Bombardier Beetle (Brachinini) Explosion-Induced Defensive Spray Pulsation.” Science 348.6234 (2015): 563–567. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3511-5679 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1261166 Science Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Arndt |
| spellingShingle | Arndt, Eric Michael Moore, Wendy Lee, Wah-Keat Ortiz, Christine Mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosion-induced defensive spray pulsation |
| title | Mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosion-induced defensive spray pulsation |
| title_full | Mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosion-induced defensive spray pulsation |
| title_fullStr | Mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosion-induced defensive spray pulsation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosion-induced defensive spray pulsation |
| title_short | Mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle (Brachinini) explosion-induced defensive spray pulsation |
| title_sort | mechanistic origins of bombardier beetle brachinini explosion induced defensive spray pulsation |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96867 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3511-5679 |
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