Fog capture by the Namib beetle
Captación de niebla por el escarabajo del Namib
- Date
- 2001 · confidence high
- Place
- Namib Desert, Erongo, Namibia
- Credited to
- Andrew Parker and Chris Lawrence
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Parker and Lawrence showed in Nature that the Namib beetle Stenocara collects fog water on hydrophilic bumps on its shell surrounded by hydrophobic areas, which channel it to the mouth. It inspired fog-harvesting nets and biomimetic materials.
Later studies (Nørgaard and Dacke, 2010) questioned how efficient the mechanism is in nature: the beetle takes fog mainly by tilting its body.
What it led to
- biomimicry applied to water in arid regions
- fog-collecting nets in deserts
- studies of surfaces with hydrophilic patterns