Observatory: Pygmy Mole Crickets Can Jump From Water?s Surface

Current Biology

Pygmy mole crickets use a series of spring-loaded, oarlike paddles on their back legs to jump off water.

Pygmy mole crickets are tiny insects that live in burrows near fresh water in warm places like Florida and South Africa. (They are not actually crickets but more closely related to grasshoppers.) On land they are expert jumpers, using the skill to escape the clutches of tiger beetles and other predators.

Now, researchers report that the insects are also skilled at jumping from the surface of water. They do this using a series of spring-loaded, oarlike paddles on their back legs, according to a paper in the journal Current Biology.

While animals like pond skater insects and fisher spiders balance on the water?s surface, pygmy mole crickets exploit the water?s viscosity.

?They whack their legs onto the surface of water and actually penetrate the water,? said an author of the study, Malcolm Burrows, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge. ?They sort of grab the water, and as their legs enter, these little paddles flare out.?

The action pushes down water, setting off a reaction that pushes the insect upward and out of the water, Dr. Burrows said. The jump helps them escape from fish and predatory insects.

Dr. Burrows first noticed pygmy mole crickets while he was eating his lunch by the side of a pond in South Africa.

He collected a few specimens and studied them in a laboratory, along with his colleague, Gregory Sutton, a researcher at the University of Bristol in England.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/science/pygmy-mole-crickets-can-jump-from-waters-surface.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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