title: Movement Analysis of Flexion and Extension of Honeybee Abdomen Based on an Adaptive Segmented Structure.
abstract: Honeybees (Apis mellifera) curl their abdomens for daily rhythmic activities. Prior to determining this fact, people have concluded that honeybees could curl their abdomen casually. However, an intriguing but less studied feature is the possible unidirectional abdominal deformation in free-flying honeybees. A high-speed video camera was used to capture the curling and to analyze the changes in the arc length of the honeybee abdomen not only in free-flying mode but also in the fixed sample. Frozen sections and environment scanning electron microscope were used to investigate the microstructure and motion principle of honeybee abdomen and to explore the physical structure restricting its curling. An adaptive segmented structure, especially the folded intersegmental membrane (FIM), plays a dominant role in the flexion and extension of the abdomen. The structural features of FIM were utilized to mimic and exhibit movement restriction on honeybee abdomen. Combining experimental analysis and theoretical demonstration, a unidirectional bending mechanism of honeybee abdomen was revealed. Through this finding, a new perspective for aerospace vehicle design can be imitated.
authors.affiliation: Division of Intelligent and Biomechanical Systems, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Jieliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Division of Intelligent and Biomechanical Systems, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Jianing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Division of Intelligent and Biomechanical Systems, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China yansz@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shaoze
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005426:Flight, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
keywords: abdomen; bending mechanism; honeybee; intersegmental membrane; segmented structure