TY - JOUR AU - Kang, Victor AU - Johnston, Richard AU - van de Kamp, Thomas AU - Faragó, Tomáš AU - Federle, Walter PY - 2019 DA - 2019/12/18 TI - Morphology of powerful suction organs from blepharicerid larvae living in raging torrents JO - BMC Zoology SP - 10 VL - 4 IS - 1 AB - Suction organs provide powerful yet dynamic attachments for many aquatic animals, including octopus, squid, remora, and clingfish. While the functional morphology of suction organs from some cephalopods and fishes has been investigated in detail, there are only few studies on such attachment devices in insects. Here we characterise the morphology and ultrastructure of the suction attachment organs of net-winged midge larvae (genus Liponeura; Diptera: Blephariceridae) – aquatic insects that live on rocks in rapid alpine waterways where flow speeds can reach 3 m s− 1 – using scanning electron microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and X-ray computed micro-tomography (micro-CT). Furthermore, we study the function of these organs in vivo using interference reflection microscopy. SN - 2056-3132 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-019-0049-6 DO - 10.1186/s40850-019-0049-6 ID - Kang2019 ER -