Meeting Abstract
How an animal recovers from perturbations in stability, such as falling, can have consequences for how it survives and thrives. Falling winged insects right themselves mid-air via asymmetric flapping and flightless insects have been shown to use leg positioning to achieve aerial righting success. However, how different morphologies impact insect aerial righting ability is unknown. Unlike previously studied insects, Halyomorpha halys is characterized by a broad flat shield-like body. In addition, H. halys’s locomotor abilities become seasonally impaired in the winter during diapause, potentially affecting flight. To assess the contribution of different morphological structures on H. halys’s aerial righting ability, landing success and timing of locomotor events were recorded from the following morphological categories: alive; alive with the wings glued shut; dead; and dead with the legs removed. H. halys was filmed at 1000Hz falling after being dropped from a ventral side-up starting position. Landing success of dead H. halys (both intact and with legs removed) was low (~30%). While living H. halys (both intact and with wings glued shut) had a higher landing success (~75%). This suggests that morphology alone isn’t sufficient for successful landing. Living H. halys spread their legs wide upon initiation of falling and intact H. halys opened their wings shortly after while still upside down in the air. It is unclear how (or if) leg positioning changes when wings are unable to open and it is possible that H. halys switches between different aerial righting strategies depending on the circumstances.
