Projects
overview of research projects
Ballistic tongues
Ballistic tongues are specialized, rapidly launched tongues used by slow predators on land to capture distant prey. They are found in three vertebrates: chameleons, lungless salamanders and frogs. They are fast, typically moving at mean speeds of 1–3 m/s and reaching prey within about 200 milliseconds.
My research focuses on:
- biomechanical principles underlying the efficiency and versatility of ballistic tongues
- evolution of ballistic tongues
- ballistic tongue-inspired technology
Ballistic tongues in salamanders and chameleons.
Insect flight
• Flight evolution
Winged insects are the first flight-capable animals evolved on land. To decipher the origin of winged insects and evolution of insect flight, I examined the biomechanics and evolutionary transitions between wingless and winged forms.
Using the stick insects (Phasmatodea) as a model system, I study:
- evolution of flight-related morphology
- the transition in flight capability (powered flapping flight, gliding and parachuting)
- the transition in wing aerodynamics
A male stick insect (Diardia signata) from Borneo.
• Aerial Righting
Aerial righting is the first stage of a series of controlled behaviors in a falling insect. My research use stick insects as a model to show how aerial righting is done in small arthropods (Zeng et al., 2017; Ortega-Jimenez et al., 2023; Jusufi et al., 2011).
Aerial righting behavior.
• Gliding
Many wingless arthropods (e.g. ants, stick insects, and spiders) can perform steep glides after falling from height. I study why and how they glide, and how gliding may mediate the transition between parachuting and powered flapping flight (Zeng et al., 2015; Zhao et al., 2023; Zeng et al., 2020).
Gliding in stick insects.
Shape-shifting appendages
The flat spiders can strike prey from any direction. These maneuvers are performed with high angular speed thanks to highly coordinated leg movements (Zeng & Crews, 2018).
Omnidirectional strike in flat spiders.
Tadpole Biomechanics
Coming soon
Feeding and locomotion in frog tadpoles.
Feeding and locomotion in frog tadpoles.
Hagfish thread
Hagfish can eject a highly dilute yet strong slime to defend against predators. This slime contains threads that rival spider silk in strength. My work examines the evolutionary origin and development of these thread cells (Zeng et al., 2021; Zeng et al., 2023).
Hagfish slime and gland thread cell.
Flagellated carpooling
Most microorganisms either swim or drift. My research reveals a new mode based on collective rolling behavior, in which the mobile and immobile cells aggregate and move together as rolling colonies (Zeng & Liu, 2020).
Caulobacter colonies forming motile structures.
Funding sources
2025
2023
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Beyond winglets: evolutionary scaling of flight-related morphology in stick insects (Phasmatodea)Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2023 - Air-to-land transitions: from wingless animals and plant seeds to shuttlecocks and bio-inspired robotsBioinspiration and biomimetics, 2023
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2021
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Evolution of a remarkable intracellular polymer and extreme cell allometry in hagfishesCurrent Biology, 2021
2020
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A tale of winglets: evolution of flight morphology in stick insectsFrontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2020 -
Canopy parkour: movement ecology of post-hatch dispersal in a gliding nymphal stick insect, Extatosoma tiaratumJournal of Experimental Biology, 2020 -
Self-propelling and rolling of a sessile-motile aggregate of the bacterium Caulobacter crescentusCommunications Biology, 2020
2018
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Biomechanics of omnidirectional strikes in flat spidersJournal of Experimental Biology, 2018
2017
2015
- Visual ecology of directed aerial descent in first-instar nymphs of the stick insect Extatosoma tiaratumThe Journal of Experimental Biology, 2015
2011
- Aerial Righting Responses: A Comparative ApproachIn INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY , 2011