Files in this Data Supplement:

• Supplemental Figure S1 -

  Fig. S1. Snap shots of flight taken from high speed videos of the tiny parasitoid wasps Nasonia vitripennis (jewel wasp, top) and Muscidifurax raptor (bottom). Notice in both cases that the wings rotate and clap together at the end of the upstroke. The wings then rotate and translate apart at the beginning of the downstroke. Photos courtesy of Ty Hedrick.

• Supplemental Figure S2 -

  Fig. S2. Cartoon diagram of the clap and fling of the tiny wasp Encarsia formosa. The wings clap together at the end of the upstroke (A), fling apart at the beginning of the downstroke (B,C), and finally translate away from each other (D). The fling creates a large, attached leading edge vortex for each wing. From Ellington (1999), after Weis-Fogh (1975).

• Supplemental Figure S3 -

  Fig. S3. Lift and drag coefficients as functions of time for flexible clap and fling with 100% rotational/translational overlap and for five bending coefficients. (A) Lift coefficients generated during two-winged flexible fling. The largest average lift forces are produced for the case where k_beam=1.0κ. (B) Lift coefficients generated during two-winged flexible clap. The lift coefficients are comparable for all five cases. (C) Drag coefficients generated during two-winged flexible fling. The peak drag forces generated increase with increasing bending stiffness. (D) Drag coefficients generated during two-winged flexible clap. Peak drag forces increase with increasing bending stiffness.

• Supplemental Figure S4 -

  Fig. S4. Lift and drag coefficients as functions of time for clap and fling with five different wing designs. The top fifth, second fifth, middle, fourth fifth, or bottom fifth of the wing was nearly rigid and the remainder of the wing was allowed to bend. The rigid portion of the wing was also the location where the external force used to move the wing was applied. (A) Lift coefficients during flexible fling for five wing designs. The largest lift forces were produced in the case where the middle of the wing was made rigid. The smallest lift forces where produced in the case where the trailing edge of the wing was rigid. (B) Lift coefficients generated during flexible clap. The lift forces produced in all cases are comparable. (C) Drag coefficients generated during flexible fling. The largest drag forces were produced when the middle portion of the wing was rigid. (D) Drag coefficients generated during flexible clap. The smallest peak drag forces were produced when the leading edge of the wing was rigid.

• Supplemental Figure S5 -

  Fig. S5. Streamline plots of fling with three different wing designs and 100% rotational/translational overlap. The flexible part of all wings was set to 1.0κ. (A) The rigid part of the wing is along the leading edge. (i) Two large leading edge vortices begin to form as the wings fling apart. (ii−iv) As translation begins, a pair of trailing edge vortices forms and begins to grow in strength. (B) The rigid part is in the middle of the wing. (i−ii) As the wings are pulled apart, large deformations of the wings occur along the leading and trailing edges. (iii,iv) When the leading and trailing edges separate, large leading edge vortices are formed. (C) The rigid part of the wing is along the trailing edge. As the wings move apart, the point of separation moves from the trailing to the leading edge of the wing. Large trailing edge vortices are formed.

• Supplemental Figure S6 -

  Fig. S6. Streamline plots of clap with three different wing designs and 100% rotational/translational overlap. The flexible part of all wings was set to 1.0κ. (A) The rigid part of the wing is along the leading edge. Towards the end of the stroke, the wings bend as they are clapped together, reducing the peak drag generated. (B) The rigid part of the wing is in the middle of the wing. This case is similar to the rigid wing case since wing deformations are minimal. (C) The rigid part of the wing is at the trailing edge. This case is also similar to the rigid wing case.