... the motions of one of the links, thus effectively reducing the wing to a single degree-of-freedom oscillator. The wing's flexibility was characterized by the ratio of the flapping frequency to the natural frequency of the structure. Apart from the rigid case, different values of this frequency ratio (only...

... , 1263 -1266. Bennett, L. ( 1970 ). Insect flight: lift and rate of change of incidence. Science 167 , 177 -179. Combes, S. A. ( 2002 ). Wing flexibility and design for animal flight. PhD thesis , University of Washington. Combes, S. A. and Daniel, T. L. ( 2001 ). Shape,flapping...

..., and the relative importance of these forces in determining passive wing deformations remains unknown. If aeroelastic interactions between a wing and the fluid-dynamic forces it generates are minor compared to the effects of wing inertia, models of insect flight that account for passive wing flexibility would...

... trends in wing venation remains unknown, and measurements of the mechanical properties of wings are rare. In this study, we address the relationship between venation pattern and wing flexibility by measuring the flexural stiffness of wings (in both the spanwise and chordwise directions) and quantifying...