Muscles, Flight, and
Temperature Regulation in
Insects
John Cornell
Oxygen Consumption in some Animals
Animal
budgerigar
resting
flying
ml O2/g/hr
Animal
ml O2/g/hr
4.5 - 3.3
21.9
Calypte
rest
hovering
10
42.4
pidgeon
resting
flying
0.9
11.9
Selaphorus
rest
hovering
14
85
shrew
7 - 11
Homo sapiens
V02 max
bats
Lepidoptera
rest
flight
0.4 - 0.7
40 - 100
Schistocerca
rest
flying
0.6
10 - 30
5
2
Drosophila
rest
flight
(Prosser, 1973)
1.7
21
Homo sapiens
http://missinglink.ucsf.edu/lm/ids_104_musclenerve_path/student_musclenerve/normal2.html
Neurogenic
(Synchronous)
Muscles
Pringle (1957)
Okanagana vanduzeei
an endothermic cicada
Josephson & Young (1985)
Pringle (1957)
Okanagana
vanduzeei
Josephson & Young (1985)
Tymbal muscle of
Okanagana vanduzeei
Josephson & Young (1985)
Josephson & Young (1985)
Josephson, Young (1987)
Josephson, Young (1987)
Myogenic
(Asynchronous)
Muscles
Pringle (1957)
(Josephson, Malamud, Stokes (2000)
Josephson, Malamud, Stokes (2000)
Josephson, Malamud, Stokes (2000)
Flight
Douglas (1981)
Indirect wing muscles
Pringle (1957)
Insect wing movements from Wikipedia
Chapman (1971)
Vibrating
halteres act like
gyroscopes in
dipterans
Chapman (1971)
Dragonfly direct wing muscles
Chapman (1971)
Wing beat frequencies in asynchronous flyers are
determined in part by the resonant frequency of
the wings.
Forcipomyia sp.
normal wing beat frequency 1046 Hz
Forcipomyia sp.
with clipped wings
Sotavalta (1953)
2200 Hz
Pringle (1957)
Temperature Regulation
Defined
by source of heat
Endotherm
Exotherm
Endotherm/Exotherm
Type of temperature
regulation
Homeothermic
Poikilothermic
Heterothermic
Method of regulation
Physiological
Behavioral
Physiological/behavioral
Dormant state
Hibernation
Torpor
Heinrich (1974)
Bombus vosnesenkii
Bombus
vosnesenskii
Kammer & Heinrich (1974)
Bombus vosnesenskii
(Heinrich & Kammer (1973)
Bombus vosnesenskii
Heinrich & Kammer (1973)
Heinrich (1974)
Heinrich (1996)
Kammer & Heinrich (1974) .
Neoconocephalus triops
http://www.texasento.net/triops.htm
Neoconocephalus robustus
Heath & Josephson (1970)
Manduca sexta
Manduca sexta
Kammer (1980)
What can you do with
heat?
Heinrich (1974)
Heinrich (1996)
Heinrich (1996)
Literature Cited
Chapman, R.F. (1971) The insects: structure and function. American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc., New York.
Douglas, M.M. (1981) Thermoregulatory significance of thoracic lobes in the evolution of insect wings. Science 211, 84-86.
Heath J. E. & Josephson, R/K. (1970) Body temperature and singing in the katydid, Neoconocephalus robustus (Orthoptera, Tettigonidae). Biol. Bull,
272-285.
Heinrich, B. (1974) Thermoregulation in endothermic insects. Science 185, 747-756.
Heinrich, B. (1996) The thermal warriors: strategies of insect survival. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass
Heinrich, b. & Kammer, A.E. (1973) Activation of the fibrillar muscles in the bumblebee during warm-up, stabilization of thoracic temperature and
flight. J. exp. Biol., 58, 677-688.
Kammer, A.E. (1981) Physiological mechanisms of thermoregulation in Insect thermoregulation, Bernd Heinrich, Editor. John Wiley & Sons, New
York.
Kammer, A. E. & Heinrich, B. (1974) Metabolic rates related to the muscle activity in bumblebees. J. exp. Biol., 61, 219-227.
Josephson, R.K. (1987) Fiber Ultrastructure and contraction kinetics in insect fast muscles. (1987) Amer. Zool. 27, 991-1000.
Josephson, R.K., Malmud, J.G. & Stokes, D.R. (2000) Asynchronous muscle: a primer. J. exp. Biol. 203, 2713-2722.
Josephson, R.K. & Young, D. (1985) J. exp. Biol., 118, 185-208.
Pringle, J.W.S. (1957) Insect flight. Cambridge University Press
Prosser, C.L. (1973) Chapter 5, Oxygen: Respiration and metabolism. in Comparative Animal Physiology, third edition. C.L Prosser, Editor. W.B.
Saunders Company, Philadelphia
Sotavalta, O. (1953) Recordings of high wing-stroke and thoracic vibration frequency in some midges. Biol. Bull. 104, 439-444.
The End