Needle-like Structure Inserts Painlessly

Biological Strategy

Mosquitoes

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Move in/on Solids

To obtain needed resources or escape predators, some living systems must move on solid substances, some must move within them, and others must do both. Solids vary in their form; they can be soft or porous like leaves, sand, skin, and snow, or hard like rock, ice, or tree bark. Movement can involve a whole living system, such as an ostrich running across the ground or an earthworm burrowing through the soil. It can also involve just part of a living system, such as a mosquito poking its mouthparts into skin. Solids vary in smoothness, stickiness, moisture content, density, etc, each of which presents different challenges. As a result, living systems have adaptations to meet one, and sometimes multiple, challenges. For example, some insects must be able to hold onto both rough and slippery leaf surfaces due to the diversity in their environment.

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Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

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The mosquito's proboscis is a natural biomicroelectromechanical system that painlessly pierces human skin.

Introduction

Female mosquitoes use their proboscis to painlessly penetrate human skin and suck blood. The proboscis is made up of a small bundle of long, tapering stylets, called the fascicle, and a large scaly outer lower lip called the labium. During blood feeding, only the fascicle penetrates into the skin while the labium buckles back to remain on the surface of the skin.

How Mosquitoes Use Six Needles to Suck Your Blood

The Strategy

The mosquito uses the two maxillas as variable frequency microsaws with nanosharp teeth to advance into the skin tissue. This elegant biomicroelectromechanical system enables the mosquito to insert its feeding fascicle into human skin using an exceedingly small force.

The Potential

This strategy could be used to develop microsaws with nanosharp teeth that could be used to penetrate human skin without causing pain.

Long-range Hearing Without an Eardrum

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes use fine hairs to hear sounds up to 10 meters (32 feet) away

the black silhouette of a mosquito with a light yellow background

Biological Strategy

Mosquitoes Detect Carbon Dioxide

The olfactory system of malarial mosquitoes detects carbon dioxide from potential hosts via a sensory mouth appendage, called a maxillary palp.

Biological Strategy

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The hairs on the antennae of some male mosquitoes are elevated by hydrating protein pads adjacent to each hair socket.

Last Updated September 14, 2016

References

“In mosquitoes the proboscis is a marvelously intricate structure…consisting of six different stylets, each adapted for a particular purpose–for making the primary incision, inserting anti-coagulant and digestive enzymes contained in the insect’s saliva and, finally, withdrawing the blood itself. All the stylets are secreted within a protective sheath formed by the labium or lower lip, which, during blood extraction, is slid up out of the way into a loop form.” (Wootton 1984:72)

Book

Insects of the World

01/01/1970 | Walter Linsenmaier

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Reference

“The mouthparts of female mosquitoes have evolved to form a special proboscis, a natural biomicroelectromechanical system (BMEMS), which is used for painlessly penetrating human skin and sucking blood. Scanning electron microscope observations show that the mosquito proboscis consists of a small bundle of long, tapering, and feeding stylets that are collectively called the fascicle, and a large scaly outer lower lip called the labium. During blood feeding, only the fascicle penetrates into the skin while the labium buckles back to remain on the surface of the skin…[The mosquito] uses the two maxillas as variable frequency microsaws with nanosharp teeth to advance into the skin tissue. This elegant BMEMS enables the mosquito to insert its feeding fascicle into human skin using an exceedingly small force (average of 16.5 μN).” (Kong and Wu 2010:1)

Journal article

Mosquito proboscis: An elegant biomicroelectromechanical system

Physical Review E | 16/07/2010 | X. Q. Kong, C. W. Wu

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