Compound microstructures and wax layer of beetle elytral surfaces and their influence on wetting properties.

A beetles' first line of defense against environmental hazards is their mesothoracic elytra--rigid, protective forewings. In order to study the interaction of these wings with water, the surface microstructures of various beetles' elytra were observed by Environment Scanning Electron Micro...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mingxia Sun, Aiping Liang, Gregory S Watson, Jolanta A Watson, Yongmei Zheng, Lei Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3464267?pdf=render