Tag Archives: wings

Majestic Triassic Reptiles Boasted Primitive Wings

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Illustration of the Triassic reptile Mirasaura grauvogeli

Rick Stikkelorum

Reptiles from the central Triassic boasted an elaborate coat of arms made of feather-like filaments, appearing over 100 million years before the first feathered dinosaurs.

The findings include two fossils and a total of 80 skeletons and crested fossils, uncovered between the 1930s and 1970s by a private collector named Louis Grovogel in the Vosges mountains of northeastern France.

It wasn’t until 2018 that Stephen Speakman from the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History and his team could examine the fossils.

They are now officially describing and naming it Mirasaura grauvogeli, with its impressive coat inspired by the Latin term for remarkable lizards.

Discovering such advanced skin structures in reptiles dating back 247 million years was quite unexpected, according to Spiekman.

“It is indeed a remarkably luxurious structure, larger than the entire body of the creature. The summit consisted of individual appendages that closely overlapped each other, resembling the feathers of a bird’s wing,” he notes.

While the appendages of M. grauvogeli share a feather-like appearance, they also exhibit significant distinctions. “In feathers, this differentiation occurs via a complex branching process that creates feather barbs, barbules, and hooks. However, such branching is absent in Mirasaura appendages,” Spiekman explains.

The most well-preserved specimen of M. grauvogeli measures less than 15 centimeters in length, although Spiekman suggests it is likely a juvenile based on certain skeletal features.

Fossils preserving the bony structure of Mirasaura grauvogeli

Stephen Speakman

One fossilized coat is three times the length of the best-preserved juvenile, suggesting that M. grauvogeli could grow substantially larger. Spiekman estimates adults might reach a size of 50 to 100 centimeters.

“The overall structure of Mirasaura indicates it was likely an agile climber, akin to a chameleon or a tree-dwelling mammal,” he explains.

John Long from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, who was not involved in the research, describes it as a “truly remarkable” prehistoric species.

“It illustrates that evolution was experimenting with creating wings using reptilian skin, albeit imperfectly,” says Long. “These grand decorations on its back would have served for signaling and visual interaction rather than flight.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Observing bees protect their nest by using their wings to ward off ants

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Japanese honeybees flap their wings to knock down ants that try to invade their nest.

Ants often invade honeybee hives to steal honey, prey on eggs, and kill worker bees. In defense, honeybees are known to fan their wings to blow ants away. Researchers have documented bees making contact with ants using their wings to physically knock them out of the hive, a behavior that has not been studied before.

High-speed camera footage shows guard wasps near the entrance of the hive leaning towards approaching ants, then flapping their wings to change direction and escape. If they hit the ant, it’s blown away.

Many beekeepers seem unaware of this strategy, as noted by Yoshiko Sakamoto. “I have never noticed this behavior in my nearly 10 years of beekeeping experience,” she says.

Researchers Yugo Seko and Kiyoto Morii from the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba introduced three species of native ants to the entrances of two Japanese honeybee hives (Honeybees colonies) and captured footage of hundreds of insect duels.

In most interactions, the bees hit the ants with their wings. However, this defense method is not always successful. Against some ants such as Pristomyrmex punctatus and Japanese street ants (Tsushima), the ants were blown away in about half to one third of attempts. This method was less effective against Japanese forest ants (Formica japonica), a larger and faster species.

Ants present varying levels of threat to bees, with some species being more aggressive than others. Bees may have evolved to use the wing-flailing defense tactic to avoid contact with more dangerous ants, while being more efficient against other species, according to the researchers.

The team plans to further study the bees’ responses to ant attacks and observe how the interaction between bees and ants evolves over time. They also aim to investigate whether the bees’ wing-beating skills improve as they gain experience. “There are still many mysteries surrounding this defensive behavior,” Morii says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

More Energy Recovery Potential in Wind Turbines Modeled After Condor Wings

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The curved tip of a wind turbine blade, or winglet, based on the shape of a condor wing

Kashayar Ranamai Vahanbali

A design change inspired by the wings of the Andean condor could increase the energy produced by wind turbines.

Different types of birds have upturned tips at the ends of their wings, which help maximize lift. Similar features, known as winglets, are commonly used on aircraft wings, but have not been tested on the giant turbine blades used to generate electricity.

Kashayar Ranamai Vahanbali Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada say collecting experimental data on wind turbines with winglets is extremely difficult due to their size.

His team designed a winglet based on the Andean condor, the heaviest flying bird in the world. The Andean condor can travel vast distances, despite weighing up to 15 kg.

Computer simulations of airflow through the turbine showed that these winglets reduced drag and increased efficiency by an average of 10%.

“Another perspective is that the winglets allow the turbine to capture more wind energy with minimal losses. [resistance]” says Ranamayvahanbury.

Winglets can be retrofitted after a turbine is manufactured, he said, by slipping “sock-like” pieces onto the ends of the blades. Researchers are developing an experimental setup to test models of wind turbine winglets.

Peter Majewski, who recently retired from the University of South Australia, said the research results made sense from an engineering and aerodynamics perspective, but retrofitting existing wind turbines would be prohibitive in terms of downtime and cost. He said it might be realistic.

But for new turbine blades, adding winglets during the manufacturing process can lead to significant performance improvements, he says.

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  • aerodynamics/
  • Renewable energy

Source: www.newscientist.com

Light pollution may be causing urban moths to evolve smaller wings

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Spindle ermine moth perched on a flower

DP Wildlife Invertebrates / Alamy

Moths trying to survive in bright cities may have evolved smaller wings to limit the amount of light they absorb.

Artificial lights that shine at night disrupt the lives of many insect species, diverting them from their habitats and mates, and exposing them to predators. Ecological changes due to light pollution may also have caused evolutionary changes, but clear examples are hard to find.

In search of such changes, evert van de shoot Researchers from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium analyzed the wing and body sizes of 680 spindle-shaped stoat moths.Yoponomeuta cañajera). These moths are previous experiment Test your reaction to light.

In their experiment, the researchers collected moth larvae from bright urban and dark rural locations in France and Switzerland and raised the moths together in the same garden. In the ‘flight to light’ test, urban moths were captured in 30 percent fewer light traps than rural moths, suggesting that they were less responsive to light.

Van de Schoot and his colleagues may have found an explanation for this. Careful measurements of the insects’ bodies revealed that moths in urban environments had slightly smaller wings on average than moths in rural areas. In both urban and rural populations, this small wing size correlated with a weak response in light trap experiments.

“What’s really surprising is that despite small changes in plumage, there are differences in rural and urban moth populations,” he says. Samuel Fabian At Imperial College London. He said the study’s focus on flight mechanics adds a new dimension to thinking about the effects of light on insects. “Nature is not static,” he says. “Nature adapts to us.”

Small wings can limit the distance and speed these moths can disperse to find mates and food. But if the trade-off makes moths less susceptible to the negative effects of being sensitive to light, it could be a beneficial adaptation in urban ecosystems, van de Scoot says.

The researchers say they cannot rule out the possibility that this change was driven by other differences between urban and rural areas, such as more fragmented habitats. Changes in visual acuity may also contribute to urban moths’ reduced response to light. Other insect species may also be affected differently.

But if such shifts in mobility were widespread, they could separate insect populations from each other and from the plants they pollinate, van de Scoot says. “It could be important for the entire ecosystem.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com