 | | | | | | | | | | |  |  | | | | Science: Tiny bug packs mighty muscle power">Archive of stories pre April 2007 | | | | | | | 
Archive of stories pre April 2007 | News submitted by: MIB
A tiny bug has been officially recognised as the Superman of the insect world.
The six-millimetre long froghopper can leap over its equivalent of tall buildings in a single bound, new research has shown.
Its athletic ability far surpasses that of the flea, previously thought to be the insect high-jump champion.
Froghoppers - also called spittle bugs because they create "cuckoo spit" on garden foliage - are distributed widely around the world, but until now have gone almost unnoticed.
Professor Malcolm Burrows, head of zoology at Cambridge University, said the bug's hind legs contained immensely strong muscles which acted like a "catapult", releasing stored energy in an explosive burst.
Tests showed that the froghopper could launch itself to a height of 70 centimetres - equivalent to an average sized man jumping over a 210-metre skyscraper.
When the insect jumped it accelerated at the breathtaking rate of 4,000 metres per second per second.
The G-force generated reached more than 400 gravities in the best jumps - enough to flatten the toughest human astronaut. In comparison, a rocket being blasted into space produces a pathetic 6-7g.
Professor Burrows wrote in the journal Nature: "For their size, froghoppers outperform other insects: they exceed the height jumped by the flea relative to body length, and accelerate their much heavier bodies four times faster."
The insect's hind legs are so specialised for jumping that when walking they are merely dragged along the ground. Energy was built up in the hind legs by slow contraction before a jump.
A locking mechanism allowed the legs to be fastened in place under the body prior to the leap, cocking the froghopper like a taught crossbow. When the legs were freed the insect sprang into the air, taking off in no more than a millisecond.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_804620.html
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