(Image source: Science Magazine)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

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There’s a reason engineers study nature -- some of the best ideas have already been tested for millions of years. Now it turns out humans weren’t the first to come up with threaded screws.

This is the hip joint of a tiny bug found all over the world -- the weevil. The leg actually threads into the hip socket, making this the first screw and nut system found in nature. It’s different from typical hip joints in the animal kingdom, which tend to be like either a ball-and-socket or a hinge. (Image source: Science Magazine)

So once you screw a bug’s legs on, how does it move? A writer for io9 gives us the rundown.

“In each of the weevil's legs, there are circular threads ... which interlock with similar threads on the inner joint. Muscles are then able to control how much the leg can turn on these threads. We've never seen anything like this before in animals, but the researchers have been able to find the exact same anatomical structure on all weevil species they've studied...”

If all weevil species share the joint, then it’s probably an ancient adaptation. But why would the little bugs evolve such a tricky trait? It’s not immediately clear what the advantages are, but one of the researchers speculates for Science News.

“‘Weevils can bring their legs into a weird position under their bodies,’ he says, tightening themselves up during a crisis like compact little seeds. That kind of a move takes fancy leg joints. … Such joints might allow more range of motion than a simple hinge -- a benefit for the plant-clinging life of the weevil...”

So human ingenuity was about 100 million years late on taking credit for this idea. But that’s nothing new -- New Scientist explains this isn’t the first time nature has beat us to the punch.

“The weevils are another example of evolution coming up with the same solutions to problems as human engineers. Bacteria had continuously rotating wheels long before we did, in the form of spinning ‘tails’ called flagella.”
 

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