Introduction
Attachment systems are widespread in animals. Especially pads that are involved in locomotion of terrestrial taxa evolved convergently in various animal groups. Despite functional constraints common to all surface-attachment systems, evolutionary solutions consistently adhere to two fundamental morphological designs: hairy and smooth adhesive pads. These pad types differ markedly in their morphology and ultrastructure, yet achieve mechanical adaptation to substrates with different roughness and maximize effective contact area with them to generate sufficient attractive intermolecular forces. Throughout evolution both pad types emerged independently multiple times, accompanied by micro- and nanoscale structural adaptations that meet the specific mechanical demands imposed by diverse environmental contexts. Understanding these processes and solutions in animal pads can enable translation of functional principles to bioinformed engineering.
To understand the processes and functional adaptations that shaped the evolution of attachment pads in insects, I use stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) as a model system for investigating drivers and consequences of mechanical interactions. This talk will dive into the micro- and nanoscopic adaptations of their attachment pads that cope with different environmental conditions and how they are functionally tuned on an evolutionary scale.