Functional correlation in arthropod exoskeletons.

Insects are considered to be the evolutionarily most successful multicellular organisms on earth. An important part of their evolutionary success is their cuticle exoskeleton, which is the most common form of skeletal structures on earth.

Surprisingly, compared to our knowledge about other biological materials our understanding of even basic biomechanical properties of arthropod exoskeletons is almost negligible.

In our group we are using a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary biomechanical approach to answer several key fundamental questions regarding material properties, morphology and histology in insect exoskeletons.