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First published online September 11, 2009
Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 3184-3191 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
doi: 10.1242/jeb.034280

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Hierarchical organisation of the trap in the protocarnivorous plant Roridula gorgonias (Roridulaceae)

Dagmar Voigt^1,*, Elena Gorb¹ and Stanislav Gorb^1,2

¹ Evolutionary Biomaterials Group, Department of Thin-Films and Biological Systems, Max-Planck Institute for Metals Research, Heisenbergstraße 03, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
² Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute at the University of Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1–9, D-24098 Kiel, Germany

^* Author for correspondence (voigt{at}mf.mpg.de)

Accepted 29 June 2009

The flypaper trap of the protocarnivorous plant Roridula gorgonias is known to capture various insects, even those having a considerable body size, by using an adhesive, visco-elastic resinous secretion released by glandular trichomes of different dimensions. However, recent experimental studies have shown that the adhesion of long tentacle-shaped trichome secretion is not as strong as previously assumed. One may then ask why this flypaper trap is so highly effective. In the present study, we compared geometry, flexibility and the adhesive properties of secretion in different sized trichomes. We have analysed the gross morphology of the plant and its surfaces using light and cryo-scanning electron microscopy. Trichomes' stiffness and the adhesive properties of their secretion on different surfaces were measured. A combination of structural and experimental results, presented in this study, let us suggest that R. gorgonias represents a three-dimensional trap consisting of three functional hierarchical levels (plant, leaves and trichomes). According to their size, we classified three types of trichomes having a particular arrangement on the leaf. The longest trichomes are more flexible and less adhesive compared with the shortest ones. The latter are 48 times stiffer and their secretion has a 9 times higher adhesive strength. Our data support the hypothesis that the shortest trichomes are adapted to strong, long-term adherence to prey insects, and that the longest trichomes are responsible for initial trapping and entanglement function.

Key words: adhesion, adhesive strength, biomechanics, flypaper plant, insect–plant interactions, plant resin, plant surface, stiffness, trap, trichome

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