In an unusual display of visceral prowess, the tobacco hawkmoth caterpillar crawls by sliding its gut forwards; the rest of its body and legs then follow on behind.
Michael Simon at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and his colleagues used X-ray imaging and light microscopy to measure the gut's position relative to the body over time in the caterpillars (Manduca sexta; pictured) as they crawled. A caterpillar begins by swinging its hind leg — the terminal proleg — forwards. This kicks off the gut slide, which shortens and then lengthens, like a piston, as the caterpillar shifts forwards. The body and the abdominal prolegs then catch up with the gut, which is attached only to the mouth and the rectum.
The team thinks that this mechanism may have evolved to minimize disturbances to the digestive system during crawling.
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Animal locomotion: Gutsy move. Nature 466, 535 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/466535d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/466535d
