Diabolical ironclad beetle adds inspiration to structural strength

This is the claim of a team of engineers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and Purdue University who believe the beetle – which can survive a load 39,000 times its body weight - could inspire new materials. Their findings are published in Nature.

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The study found that the diabolical ironclad beetle's toughness lies in two armour-like elytron that meet at a suture running the length of the abdomen.

In flying beetles, the elytra protect wings and facilitate flight. The diabolical ironclad beetle does not have wings, so its elytra and connective suture help to distribute an applied force more evenly throughout its body.

"The suture kind of acts like a jigsaw puzzle. It connects various exoskeletal blades…in the abdomen under the elytra," said Pablo Zavattieri, Purdue's Jerry M. and Lynda T. Engelhardt Professor of Civil Engineering.