Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Flexible design in the stomatopod dactyl club

Christensen, Thorbjørn Erik Køppen LU ; Chua, Jia Qing Isaiah ; Wittig, Nina Kølln ; Jørgensen, Mads Ry Vogel LU orcid ; Kantor, Innokenty LU ; Thomsen, Jesper Skovhus ; Miserez, Ali and Birkedal, Henrik (2023) In IUCrJ 10(Pt 3). p.288-296
Abstract

The stomatopod is a fascinating animal that uses its weaponized appendage dactyl clubs for breaking mollusc shells. Dactyl clubs are a well studied example of biomineralized hierarchical structures. Most research has focused on the regions close to the action, namely the impact region and surface composed of chitin and apatite crystallites. Further away from the site of impact, the club has lower mineralization and more amorphous phases; these areas have not been as actively studied as their highly mineralized counterparts. This work focuses on the side of the club, in what is known as the periodic and striated regions. A combination of laboratory micro-computed tomography, synchrotron X-ray diffraction mapping and synchrotron X-ray... (More)

The stomatopod is a fascinating animal that uses its weaponized appendage dactyl clubs for breaking mollusc shells. Dactyl clubs are a well studied example of biomineralized hierarchical structures. Most research has focused on the regions close to the action, namely the impact region and surface composed of chitin and apatite crystallites. Further away from the site of impact, the club has lower mineralization and more amorphous phases; these areas have not been as actively studied as their highly mineralized counterparts. This work focuses on the side of the club, in what is known as the periodic and striated regions. A combination of laboratory micro-computed tomography, synchrotron X-ray diffraction mapping and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence mapping has shown that the mineral in this region undergoes the transition from an amorphous to a crystalline phase in some, but not all, clubs. This means that this side region can be mineralized by either an amorphous phase, calcite crystallites or a mixture of both. It was found that when larger calcite crystallites form, they are organized (textured) with respect to the chitin present in this biocomposite. This suggests that chitin may serve as a template for crystallization when the side of the club is fully mineralized. Further, calcite crystallites were found to form as early as 1 week after moulting of the club. This suggests that the side of the club is designed with a significant safety margin that allows for a variety of phases, i.e. the club can function independently of whether the side region has a crystalline or amorphous mineral phase.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
biomineralization, composite materials, crystal orientation, polymorphism, stomatopods
in
IUCrJ
volume
10
issue
Pt 3
pages
9 pages
publisher
International Union of Crystallography
external identifiers
  • pmid:36912686
  • scopus:85159580281
ISSN
2052-2525
DOI
10.1107/S2052252523002075
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ac392244-8a4c-47ab-95ca-85d957f26d4b
date added to LUP
2023-08-23 10:37:20
date last changed
2024-04-20 01:18:24
@article{ac392244-8a4c-47ab-95ca-85d957f26d4b,
  abstract     = {{<p>The stomatopod is a fascinating animal that uses its weaponized appendage dactyl clubs for breaking mollusc shells. Dactyl clubs are a well studied example of biomineralized hierarchical structures. Most research has focused on the regions close to the action, namely the impact region and surface composed of chitin and apatite crystallites. Further away from the site of impact, the club has lower mineralization and more amorphous phases; these areas have not been as actively studied as their highly mineralized counterparts. This work focuses on the side of the club, in what is known as the periodic and striated regions. A combination of laboratory micro-computed tomography, synchrotron X-ray diffraction mapping and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence mapping has shown that the mineral in this region undergoes the transition from an amorphous to a crystalline phase in some, but not all, clubs. This means that this side region can be mineralized by either an amorphous phase, calcite crystallites or a mixture of both. It was found that when larger calcite crystallites form, they are organized (textured) with respect to the chitin present in this biocomposite. This suggests that chitin may serve as a template for crystallization when the side of the club is fully mineralized. Further, calcite crystallites were found to form as early as 1 week after moulting of the club. This suggests that the side of the club is designed with a significant safety margin that allows for a variety of phases, i.e. the club can function independently of whether the side region has a crystalline or amorphous mineral phase.</p>}},
  author       = {{Christensen, Thorbjørn Erik Køppen and Chua, Jia Qing Isaiah and Wittig, Nina Kølln and Jørgensen, Mads Ry Vogel and Kantor, Innokenty and Thomsen, Jesper Skovhus and Miserez, Ali and Birkedal, Henrik}},
  issn         = {{2052-2525}},
  keywords     = {{biomineralization; composite materials; crystal orientation; polymorphism; stomatopods}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{Pt 3}},
  pages        = {{288--296}},
  publisher    = {{International Union of Crystallography}},
  series       = {{IUCrJ}},
  title        = {{Flexible design in the stomatopod dactyl club}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S2052252523002075}},
  doi          = {{10.1107/S2052252523002075}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}