鳞翅目若干迁飞昆虫翅形特征分析(英文)

对鳞翅目蛾类 2科 42种和蝶类 7科 31种昆虫的翅形进行数值分析。结果表明 ,无论是蛾类还是蝶类 ,迁飞昆虫前翅形状均具有区别于非迁飞昆虫的共同特征 ,即前翅相对窄长 ,前缘较平直 ;然而与不同的翅振模式相适应 ,蛾类与蝶类迁飞昆虫的翅形特征又有所不同 :蛾类迁飞昆虫翅外侧较宽阔 ;蝶类迁飞昆虫翅外侧较窄小。     

Color pattern formation on the wing of a butterfly Pieris rapae. 2. Color determination and scale development

It has been shown that microcautery on the prospective apical black region of the early pupal forewing of a butterfly, Pieris rapae , causes alteration of the scale color on the adult wing and a delay in histogenesis of the pupal wing. From these results, it has been assumed that the developmental delay of scale cells in the pupal wing alters their developmental fate and the hypothesis that different color fates of scales are determined by differences in the developmental timetables between scale cells is proposed. In this study, we attempted to find the developmental timetables of individual scales expressing specific color to test this hypothesis. It was found that the holes on the upper surface of a scale become larger as they develop and the hole sizes of scales in the white region are always larger than in the black region on the same wings either during pupal period or after eclosion. This suggests that the scale hole size is a good index that reflects developmental rate of the scale and a difference in the hole size between adult scales is attributed to a difference in the developmental timetables when their ancestral scale precursor cells were in the pupal period. A comparison of the hole sizes between adult scales in different color regions suggested that normal white scales were in a more advanced state than were the black ones but white scales induced by microcautery were in a less advanced state than black ones on the same wing. This supports our hypothesis.     

Avian brachial index and wing kinematics: putting movement back into bones

The relationship between wing kinematics, wing morphology and the brachial index of birds (BI=humerus length/ulna length) was examined. BI was found to differ between three groups of birds, which were classified on the basis of similar wing kinematics. In addition, a comparative analysis of a large dataset, using phylogenetically independent contrasts, suggested a significant, albeit weak, correlation between BI and four measures of wing morphology (wing loading, wing area, wing length and aspect ratio). Although wing kinematics and wing morphology are both correlated with BI in birds, the dominant selective pressure upon this ratio is probably wing kinematics. The previously identified clade specificity of BI within Neornithes is most likely because birds with similar BIs fly with kinematic similarity and closely related birds have similar flight styles. A correlation between BI and wing kinematics means that it may be possible to characterize the wing beat of fossil birds. A more robust relationship between wing morphology and BI may emerge, but only after the relationship between wing kinematics and BI is quantified. A comparative and quantitative study of wing-bone anatomy and wing kinematics is a priority for future studies of avian wing-skeleton evolution and functional morphology.     

Population dynamics and the color of environmental noise: A study on a three-species food chain system

In the present study, the effect of red, white and blue environmental noise on population dynamics in a simple three-species food chain system was analyzed. The colored noise was superimposed on the three-species food chain model first put forth by Rosenzweig in different ways and the resulting power spectra were investigated. We showed that the amplitude of environmental noise, the trophic level at which a population is positioned and whether a population is directly affected by environmental noise, are all important with respect to the way in which a population responds to noise with different colors. For the deterministic case, all population dynamics are red irrespective of the system dynamics. When all species are sensitive to environmental noise, the top predators dynamics always remain red regardless of the color of the noise and its amplitude, whereas the dynamics of the intermediate species turn blue under disturbances of any color with high amplitude, and those of the basal species may become blue only under blue noise. If only one species is sensitive to environmental noise, the dynamics of the insensitive species are always red, irrespective of the color of the noise and its amplitude. Unlike previous results obtained by studying single-species models, our results have almost nothing to do with deterministic system dynamics. In other words, changing the deterministic system dynamics from stable via periodic to chaotic does not qualitatively change the outcome. Our results are of importance in determining how we interpret the ubiquitous red power spectrum of natural ecological time series.     

ANALYSIS OF WING‐SHAPE CHARACTERITICS OF MIGRATORY LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS*

Abstract Morphological characteristics of the forewings of 42 species of moths and 31 species of butterflies were comparatively analyzed with special reference to their migration ability. The curvature values of costal margin of the forewings revealed that the migratory moths and butterflies have relatively narrower forewings with straighter costal margin as compared with respective non‐migratory species. The posterior area of forewings was wider in the migratory moths and narrower in the migratory butterflies than that of respective non‐migratory species.     

Improvement of Artificial Foldable Wing Models by Mimicking the Unfolding/Folding Mechanism of a Beetle Hind Wing

<正> In an attempt to realize a flapping wing micro-air vehicle with morphing wings, we report on improvements to our previousfoldable artificial hind wing.Multiple hinges, which were implemented to mimic the bending zone of a beetle hind wing, weremade of small composite hinge plates and tiny aluminum rivets.The buck-tails of rivets were flared after the hinge plates wereassembled with the rivets so that the folding/unfolding motions could be completed in less time, and the straight shape of theartificial hind wing could be maintained after fabrication.Folding and unfolding actions were triggered by electrically-activatedShape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires.For wing folding, the actuation characteristics of the SMA wire actuator were modifiedthrough heat treatment.Through a series of flapping tests, we confirmed that the artificial wings did not fold back and arbitrarilyfluctuate during the flapping motion.     

Take-off performance under optimal and suboptimal thermal conditions in the butterfly <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pararge aegeria</Emphasis>

Realized fitness in a fluctuating environment depends on the capacity of an ectothermic organism to function at different temperatures. Flying heliotherms like butterflies use flight for almost all activities like mate location, foraging and host plant searching and oviposition. Several studies tested the importance of ambient temperature, thermoregulation and butterfly activity. Here, we test the influence of variation in flight morphology in interaction with differences in body temperature on locomotor performance, which has not been thoroughly examined so far. Take-off free flight performance was tested at two different body temperatures in males and females of the speckled wood butterfly Pararge aegeria. We found that both males and females accelerated faster at the optimal body temperature compared to the suboptimal one. The multivariate analyses showed significant sex-specific contributions of flight morphology, body temperature treatment and feeding load to explain variation in acceleration performance. Female and male butterflies with a large relative thorax (i.e. flight muscle investment) mass and large, slender wings (i.e. aspect ratio) accelerated fast at optimal temperature. However, high aspect ratio individuals accelerated slowly at suboptimal temperature. Females of low body mass accelerated fast at optimal, but slowly at suboptimal body temperature. In males, there was an interaction effect between body and relative thorax mass: light males with high relative thorax mass had higher performance than males with a low relative thorax mass. In addition, relative distance to the centre of forewing area was positively related to acceleration at both temperatures in males. Males and females with higher feeding loads had lower levels of acceleration. Finally, males that were able to accelerate fast under both temperatures, had a highly significantly heavier relative thorax, lower body and abdomen mass. More generally, this study shows that the significance of butterfly flight morphology in terms of flight performance is at least partially dependent on body temperature.     

Thermal impact of migrating birds’ wing color on their flight performance: Possibility of new generation of biologically inspired drones

The thermal impact of the birds’ color on their flight performance are investigated. In most of the large migrating birds, the top of their wings is black. Considering this natural phenomenon in the migrating birds, such as albatross, a thermal analysis of the boundary layer of their wings is performed during the year depending on the solar insulation. It is shown that the temperature difference between the bright and dark colored top wing surface is around 10 °C. The dark color on the top of the wing increases the temperature of the boundary layer over the wing which consequently reduces the skin drag force over the wing. This reduction in the drag force can be considered as one of the effective factors for long endurance of these migrating birds. This research should lead to improved designs of the drones by applying the inspired colors which can help drones increase their endurance.     

Design of a Bio-inspired,Two-winged,Flapping-wing Micro Air Vehicle with High-lift Performance

In this paper,we present the development of our latest flapping-wing micro air vehicle(FW-MAV),named Explobird,which features two wings with a wingspan of 195 mm and weighs a mere 25.2 g,enabling it to accomplish vertical take-off and hover flight.We devised a novel gear-based mechanism for the flapping system to achieve high lift capability and reliability and conducted extensive testing and analysis on the wings to optimise power matching and lift performance.The Explobird can deliver a peak lift-to-weight ratio of 1.472 and an endurance time of 259 s during hover flight powered by a single-cell LiPo battery.Considering the inherent instability of the prototype,we discuss the derivatives of its longitudinal system,underscoring the importance of feedback control,position of the centre of gravity,and increased damping.To demonstrate the effect of damping enhancement on stability,we also designed a passive stable FW-MAV.Currently,the vehicle is actively stabilised in roll by adjusting the wing root bars and in pitch through high-authority tail control,whereas yaw is passively stabilised.Through a series of flight tests,we successfully demonstrate that our prototype can perform vertical take-off and hover flight under wireless conditions.These promising results position the Explobird as a robust vehicle with high lift capability,paving the way towards the use of FW-MAVs for carrying load equipment in multiple tasks.