Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

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What’s the point? The functional role of claws in pad-bearing taxa (Gekkota: Diplodactylidae)
(The Royal Society, 2025-09)
Pillai, Rishab Rajan
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Riedel, Jendrian
;
Wirth, Wytamma
;
Allen-Ankins, Slade
;
Nordberg, Eric
Morphological adaptations facilitate effective movement within habitats. Claws are among the most common adaptations enabling organisms to use inclined and vertical surfaces. However, some taxa have evolved adhesive pads in addition to claws, with claws suggested to be more effective at gripping coarse surfaces, while pads attach better to fine-grained surfaces. Using test surfaces that represented the range of surface roughness used by six species of diplodactylid geckos in nature, we quantified the role of claws and pads acting together, and of pads alone. We examined two functional traits, attachment (on inclines, 45° and vertical surfaces, 90°) and clinging ability (on inclines only). Claws were critical to attachment on vertical surfaces, and attachment declined linearly with decreasing surface roughness. Although attachment was lowest on fine-grained surfaces, this was where claws had the greatest functional contribution. Clinging ability also declined linearly with decreasing surface roughness, where claws played an additive role. Our study highlights novel results describing the function of gecko adhesive systems on different surfaces and suggests a clade-specific interaction of claws and pads. Specifically, we highlight that pads alone can be capable of attachment on rough surfaces, with claws contributing more on fine-grained surfaces.
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Insect exoskeletons react to hypergravity
(The Royal Society, 2023-12-06)
Stamm, Karen
;
Dirks, Jan-Henning
A typical feature of biological materials is their ability to adapt to mechanical load. However, it is not known whether the cuticle exoskeleton, one of the most common biological structures, also shares this trait. Here, we show direct experimental evidence that prolonged exposure to hypergravity conditions affects the morphology and biomechanics of an insect exoskeleton. Locusts were raised for several weeks in a custom-designed centrifuge at various levels of hypergravity. Biomechanical measurements and X-ray microtomography show that up to 3g load the Young’s modulus of the tibiae increased by about 67\%. Higher gravitational loads however decreased the survival rate, body mass and endocuticle thickness. These results directly show that cuticle exoskeletons can react to hypergravity. This ability has so far only been known for bone endoskeletons and plants. Our findings thus add important context to the discussion on general ultimate factors in the evolution of adaptive biological materials and skeletal systems.
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