. The Biological bulletin. Biology; Zoology; Biology; Marine Biology. REFLEXES IN GIANT WATER BUGS 123 This rather extensive pre-flight behavior is apparently necessary because of a ball and socket mechanism which locks the wings to the pterothorax (Lauck, 1959) ; this mechanism is illustrated in Figure 3. The ball protrudes posteriorly from the dorsal margin of the mesepimeron and inserts into the socket on the costal margin of the hemelytron; the mesal border of the clavus matches the wing grooves on the postnotum. In order to open the wings, the bug must first release the ball and socket me
. The Biological bulletin. Biology; Zoology; Biology; Marine Biology. REFLEXES IN GIANT WATER BUGS 123 This rather extensive pre-flight behavior is apparently necessary because of a ball and socket mechanism which locks the wings to the pterothorax (Lauck, 1959) ; this mechanism is illustrated in Figure 3. The ball protrudes posteriorly from the dorsal margin of the mesepimeron and inserts into the socket on the costal margin of the hemelytron; the mesal border of the clavus matches the wing grooves on the postnotum. In order to open the wings, the bug must first release the ball and socket mechanism, which is probably accomplished, according to Lauck, by a combination of contractions of the third axillary muscle and the tergo-sternal prsc epm epm3. ro sw sw FIGURE 3. Lcthoccnts: views of pterothcrax and hemelytron to show position of wing ball (wb) and wing socket (ws). The posterior margin of the clavus (cl) fits along the wing groove (wg). A: Pterothorax with wings on left side removed, prsc, prescutum; ph, phragma ; sc, scutum; sc-scl, scuto-scutellum; pN, postnotum; epm, epimeron; wb, wing ball; wg, wing groove; T, tergite of abdomen. B : Ventral aspect of left hemelytron. ws, wing socket; co, corium; cl, clavus; me, membrane; we, wing clip. C: Diagram showing wing locking mechanism, he, hemelytron; ra, respiratory apparatus; ab, abdomen; sw, swimming leg. Arrow points anteriorly. A and B redrawn from Lauck (1959) by permission of the publishers. Not drawn to same scale. muscles which levate the wings. The various violent leg twitchings, depressions of the abdomen, and oscillations of the body characteristic of the pre-flight behavior are apparently the result of attempts by the animal to get the wings unlocked. There is, however, another possible reason for the pre-flight movements. Krogh and Zeuthen (1941) note that lamellicorn beetles "pump" before flight; they measured the rise in temperature of the muscles during "pumping" and found tha
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlilliefrankrat, booksubjectbiology, booksubjectzoology
