Skip to main content
Advertisement

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Accepted manuscripts
    • Issue in progress
    • Latest complete issue
    • Issue archive
    • Archive by article type
    • Special issues
    • Subject collections
    • Interviews
    • Sign up for alerts
  • About us
    • About JEB
    • Editors and Board
    • Editor biographies
    • Travelling Fellowships
    • Grants and funding
    • Journal Meetings
    • Workshops
    • The Company of Biologists
    • Journal news
  • For authors
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Aims and scope
    • Presubmission enquiries
    • Article types
    • Manuscript preparation
    • Cover suggestions
    • Editorial process
    • Promoting your paper
    • Open Access
    • Outstanding paper prize
    • Biology Open transfer
  • Journal info
    • Journal policies
    • Rights and permissions
    • Media policies
    • Reviewer guide
    • Sign up for alerts
  • Contacts
    • Contact JEB
    • Subscriptions
    • Advertising
    • Feedback
  • COB
    • About The Company of Biologists
    • Development
    • Journal of Cell Science
    • Journal of Experimental Biology
    • Disease Models & Mechanisms
    • Biology Open

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Experimental Biology
  • COB
    • About The Company of Biologists
    • Development
    • Journal of Cell Science
    • Journal of Experimental Biology
    • Disease Models & Mechanisms
    • Biology Open

supporting biologistsinspiring biology

Journal of Experimental Biology

  • Log in
Advanced search

RSS  Twitter  Facebook  YouTube  

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Accepted manuscripts
    • Issue in progress
    • Latest complete issue
    • Issue archive
    • Archive by article type
    • Special issues
    • Subject collections
    • Interviews
    • Sign up for alerts
  • About us
    • About JEB
    • Editors and Board
    • Editor biographies
    • Travelling Fellowships
    • Grants and funding
    • Journal Meetings
    • Workshops
    • The Company of Biologists
    • Journal news
  • For authors
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Aims and scope
    • Presubmission enquiries
    • Article types
    • Manuscript preparation
    • Cover suggestions
    • Editorial process
    • Promoting your paper
    • Open Access
    • Outstanding paper prize
    • Biology Open transfer
  • Journal info
    • Journal policies
    • Rights and permissions
    • Media policies
    • Reviewer guide
    • Sign up for alerts
  • Contacts
    • Contact JEB
    • Subscriptions
    • Advertising
    • Feedback
Journal Articles
Leg design in hexapedal runners
R. J. Full, R. Blickhan, L. H. Ting
Journal of Experimental Biology 1991 158: 369-390;
R. J. Full
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
R. Blickhan
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
L. H. Ting
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Summary

Many-legged animals, such as crabs and cockroaches, utilize whole-body mechanics similar to that observed for running bipeds and trotting quadrupedal mammals. Despite the diversity in morphology, two legs in a quadrupedal mammal, three legs in an insect and four legs in a crab can function in the same way as one leg of a biped during ground contact. To explain how diverse leg designs can result in common whole-body dynamics, we used a miniature force platform to measure the ground reaction forces produced by individual legs of the cockroach Blaberus discoidalis. Hexapedal runners were not like quadrupeds with an additional set of legs. In trotting quadrupedal mammals each leg develops a similar ground reaction force pattern that sums to produce the whole-body pattern. At a constant average velocity, each leg pair of the cockroach was characterized by a unique ground reaction force pattern. The first leg decelerated the center of mass in the horizontal direction, whereas the third leg was used to accelerate the body. The second leg did both, much like legs in bipedal runners and quadrupedal trotters. Vertical force peaks for each leg were equal in magnitude. In general, peak ground reaction force vectors minimized joint moments and muscle forces by being oriented towards the coxal joints, which articulate with the body. Locomotion with a sprawled posture does not necessarily result in large moments around joints. Calculations on B. discoidalis showed that deviations from the minimum moments may be explained by considering the minimization of the summed muscle forces in more than one leg. Production of horizontal forces that account for most of the mechanical energy generated during locomotion can actually reduce total muscle force by directing the ground reaction forces through the leg joints. Whole-body dynamics common to two-, four-, six- and eight-legged runners is produced in six-legged runners by three pairs of legs that differ in orientation with respect to the body, generate unique ground reaction force patterns, but combine to function in the same way as one leg of a biped.

  • © 1991 by Company of Biologists
Previous ArticleNext Article
Back to top
Previous ArticleNext Article

This Issue

 Download PDF

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Experimental Biology.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Leg design in hexapedal runners
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Experimental Biology
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Experimental Biology web site.
Share
Journal Articles
Leg design in hexapedal runners
R. J. Full, R. Blickhan, L. H. Ting
Journal of Experimental Biology 1991 158: 369-390;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Journal Articles
Leg design in hexapedal runners
R. J. Full, R. Blickhan, L. H. Ting
Journal of Experimental Biology 1991 158: 369-390;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Alerts

Please log in to add an alert for this article.

Sign in to email alerts with your email address

Article navigation

  • Top
  • Article
  • Info & metrics
  • PDF

Related articles

Cited by...

More in this TOC section

  • Transport of bile acids in hepatic and non-hepatic tissues
  • The anisotropic Young's modulus of equine secondary osteones and interstitial bone determined by nanoindentation
  • A novel mechanism of body mass regulation
Show more Journal Articles

Similar articles

Other journals from The Company of Biologists

Development

Journal of Cell Science

Disease Models & Mechanisms

Biology Open

Advertisement

Meet the team at SICB – 3-7 January 2020

Meet the Journal of Experimental Biology team at the SICB 2020 meeting in Austin, Texas! News & Views Editor Kathryn Knight and Reviews Editor Stefan Galander will be at booth 507, along with a selection of JEB goodies including the 2020 Calendar, 2019 Highlights booklet and new JEB T-shirts.


Springy bamboo poles help villagers carry more than their own body weight

One of the villagers walking with a flexible bamboo pole

People in Southeast Asia often carry extremely heavy loads suspended from a bouncy bamboo pole slung over one shoulder. It turns out that they adjust their stride to bounce in time with the pole, allowing them to save 20% of their energy. Read more.


Two-year pilot transitional open access agreement

We are excited to announce a two-year pilot transitional open access agreement with Jisc from January 2020. Researchers at participating institutions will have unlimited access to The Company of Biologists’ three subscription journals and will be able to publish their research papers open access. Find out more.


Commentary — The utility and determination of Pcrit in fishes

Gordon Ultsch and Matthew Regan outline why Pcrit is a useful and informative comparator of hypoxia tolerance in fishes, provided it is determined using standardized respirometry methods and sound statistical approaches.


Where will your research take you?

Early-career researchers can apply for up to £2,500 to offset the cost of travel and expenses to make collaborative visits to other labs around the world. Read about Pierre’s experience in Greenland, where he continued research into the Greenland Shark’s remarkable longevity.

Articles

  • Accepted manuscripts
  • Issue in progress
  • Latest complete issue
  • Issue archive
  • Archive by article type
  • Special issues
  • Subject collections
  • Interviews
  • Sign up for alerts

About us

  • About JEB
  • Editors and Board
  • Editor biographies
  • Travelling Fellowships
  • Grants and funding
  • Journal Meetings
  • Workshops
  • The Company of Biologists
  • Journal news

For Authors

  • Submit a manuscript
  • Aims and scope
  • Presubmission enquiries
  • Article types
  • Manuscript preparation
  • Cover suggestions
  • Editorial process
  • Promoting your paper
  • Open Access
  • Outstanding paper prize
  • Biology Open transfer

Journal Info

  • Journal policies
  • Rights and permissions
  • Media policies
  • Reviewer guide
  • Sign up for alerts

Contact

  • Contact JEB
  • Subscriptions
  • Advertising
  • Feedback

 Twitter   YouTube   LinkedIn

© 2019   The Company of Biologists Ltd   Registered Charity 277992