Quote:
Originally Posted by goosey
Thank you both. It was a lovely sunny and warm 16 degrees - I think perhaps it could have been just having a stretch and a spot of sun bathing then, as it must have flown off with no problems -
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One other aspect of wing stretching/flapping is that it helps to warm the insect up in several ways.
Insects largely depend on external sources of heat (solar radiation or warm air/water). In the case of beetles the hard elytra (wing cases) are not very good absorbers of heat so opening up and out-stretching the wings employs them as solar panels, as it were.
Waving the wings/elytra about encourages circulation of haemolymph and therefore of heat around the body.
In some cases (locusts, for sure) the wing flight muscles are very important in oxygenating and circulating the haemolymph - in effect they act like mammalian diaphragms open and close the lungs: bellows effect ....