title: Musculoskeletal modelling under an evolutionary perspective: deciphering the role of single muscle regions in closely related insects.
abstract: Insects show a remarkable diversity of muscle configurations, yet the factors leading to this functional diversity are poorly understood. Here, we use musculoskeletal modelling to understand the spatio-temporal activity of an insect muscle in several dragonfly species and to reveal potential mechanical factors leading to a particular muscle configuration. Bite characteristics potentially show systematic signal, but absolute bite force is not correlated with size. Muscle configuration and inverse dynamics show that the wider relative area of muscle attachment and the higher activity of subapical muscle groups are responsible for this high bite force. This wider attachment area is, however, not an evolutionary trend within dragonflies. Our inverse dynamic data, furthermore, show that maximum bite forces most probably do not reflect maximal muscle force production capability in all studied species. The thin head capsule and the attachment areas of muscles most probably limit the maximum force output of the mandibular muscles.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne 50933, Germany.
authors.forename: Sina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: David
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne 50933, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Funken
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne 50933, Germany ARCUS Clinics Pforzheim, Rastatter Strasse 17-19, 75179 Pforzheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Potthast
authors.affiliation: Medical and Biological Engineering Research Group, School of Engineering, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK a.blanke@hull.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4385-6039
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blanke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D008954:Models, Biological; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D063191:Odonata / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: bite force; dragonfly; functional constraints; insect; mouthparts; musculoskeletal modelling