Video
clip of Archembia male in flight.
A Web Page by Roy J. Beckemeyer
Last Updated 20 November 2004
Right: Archembia sp. male.
Photo taken through microscope eyepiece using Nikon 990 digital camera.
Photo by Roy Beckemeyer.
VIDEO
WILL APPEAR HERE
Recently emerged Archembia males seem to be interested
in leaving the colony and flying off - at least they climb out of the leaves and
webs and crawl around near the top of the jars where they live. I have
taken video footage of several males with a Canon ZR 70 MC digital
camcorder. Shots are at 1/2000 sec shutter speed. Frames are 1/30 second apart. The webspinner was placed in a small plastic measuring cup
which had sides too slick for it to climb out. The cup was 33 mm deep and
68 mm inside diameter at the top. The vertical distance flown here was
about 30 mm and the horizontal distance about 32 mm.
Click HERE
to link to version of this page with video footage.
Left:
Frame 1. The final frame before takeoff. The insect is not in the
exact center of the cup.
Right: Frame 2.
Left:
Frame 3.
Right: Frame 4.
Note that there is no visual evidence that the wings are
bending under flight loading. That is, is spite of the wings of embiids
being quite flexible in repose, they are stiff in flight - this is due to
hydraulic stiffening by hemolymph in large blood sinuses along the major
longitudinal veins (see photos in next section below).
Left:
Frame 5.
Right: Frame 6.
Left:
Frame 7.
Right: Frame 8.
Left:
Wing venational nomenclature. Note the blood sinuses that provide
stiffness to the wings.
Video
clip of Archembia male in flight.
Left:
Wing venational nomenclature. Note the blood sinuses that provide
stiffness to the wings.