Projects2

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

(Zeng et al., 2025)

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 in extant taxa.

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

(Zeng et al., 2020; Zeng et al., 2023)

A male stick insect (Diardia signata) from Borneo.

• Aerial Righting

Aerial righting in wingless arthrpods.

Aerial righting behavior.

(Zeng et al., 2017; Ortega-Jimenez et al., 2023; Jusufi et al., 2011)

• Gliding

Gliding as the evolutionary intermediate between parachuting and flapping flight.

Gliding in stick insects.

(Zeng et al., 2015; Zhao et al., 2023; Zeng et al., 2020)

Shape-shifting appendages

Rapid maneuvers mediated by shape-shifting appendages and body. (Zeng & Crews, 2018)

Omnidirectional strike in flat spiders.

Tadpole Biomechanics

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.

keywords
biofiber / predator-prey / intracellular / morphogenesis

(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.

keywords
microorganism / colonial transport / fluid dynamics

(Zeng & Liu, 2020)

Caulobacter colonies forming motile structures.

Funding sources

2025

1. 

   Convergently evolved linear actuators in ballistic tongues

   Yu Zeng ,  Christopher V Anderson ,  and  Stephen M Deban

   Current Biology, 2025

   Website

2023

1. 

   Beyond winglets: evolutionary scaling of flight-related morphology in stick insects (Phasmatodea)

   Yu Zeng ,  Sehoon Park ,  Camille Gonzales ,  Stephanie Yom ,  Faszly Rahim ,  and  Robert Dudley

   Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2023

   Website
2. Air-to-land transitions: from wingless animals and plant seeds to shuttlecocks and bio-inspired robots

   Victor M Ortega-Jimenez ,  Ardian Jusufi ,  Christian E Brown ,  Yu Zeng ,  Sunny Kumar ,  Robert Siddall ,  Baekgyeom Kim ,  Elio J Challita ,  Zoe Pavlik ,  Meredith Priess ,  and  others

   Bioinspiration and biomimetics, 2023

3. 

   Petal-shaped femoral lobes facilitate gliding in orchid mantises

   Xin Zhao ,  Jing-Xin Liu ,  Tristan Charles-Dominique ,  Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz ,  Bing Dong ,  Lin Yan ,  James C O’Hanlon ,  Yu Zeng ,  and  Zhanqi Chen

   Current Biology, 2023

   Website

4. 

   Epidermal threads reveal the origin of hagfish slime

   Yu Zeng ,  David C Plachetzki ,  Kristen Nieders ,  Hannah Campbell ,  Marissa Cartee ,  M Sabrina Pankey ,  Kennedy Guillen ,  and  Douglas Fudge

   Elife, 2023

   Website

2021

1. 

   Evolution of a remarkable intracellular polymer and extreme cell allometry in hagfishes

   Yu Zeng ,  Skylar Petrichko ,  Kristen Nieders ,  David Plachetzki ,  and  Douglas Fudge

   Current Biology, 2021

   Website

2020

1. 

   A tale of winglets: evolution of flight morphology in stick insects

   Yu Zeng ,  Connor O’Malley ,  Sonal Singhal ,  Faszly Rahim ,  Sehoon Park ,  Xin Chen ,  and  Robert Dudley

   Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2020

   Website

2. 

   Canopy parkour: movement ecology of post-hatch dispersal in a gliding nymphal stick insect, Extatosoma tiaratum

   Yu Zeng ,  Sofia W Chang ,  Janelle Y Williams ,  Lynn Y-Nhi Nguyen ,  Jia Tang ,  Grisanu Naing ,  Chandni Kazi ,  and  Robert Dudley

   Journal of Experimental Biology, 2020

3. 

   Self-propelling and rolling of a sessile-motile aggregate of the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus

   Yu Zeng ,  and  Bin Liu

   Communications Biology, 2020

   Website

2018

1. 

   Biomechanics of omnidirectional strikes in flat spiders

   Yu Zeng ,  and  Sarah Crews

   Journal of Experimental Biology, 2018

   Website

2017

1. 

   Biomechanics of aerial righting in wingless nymphal stick insects

   Yu Zeng ,  Kenrick Lam ,  Yuexiang Chen ,  Mengsha Gong ,  Zheyuan Xu ,  and  Robert Dudley

   Interface Focus, 2017

   Website

2015

1. Visual ecology of directed aerial descent in first-instar nymphs of the stick insect Extatosoma tiaratum

   Yu Zeng ,  Yvonne Lin ,  Arianna Abundo ,  and  Robert Dudley

   The Journal of Experimental Biology, 2015

2011

1. Aerial Righting Responses: A Comparative Approach

   A Jusufi ,  Y Zeng ,  RJ Full ,  and  R Dudley

   In INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY , 2011