https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-026-00586-8
Research - Soft Matter
Role of wing surface morphology of the Indian carpenter bee in self-cleaning and dew formation
Department of Physics, Fergusson College (Autonomous), 411004, Pune, India
a
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Received:
16
December
2025
Accepted:
13
April
2026
Published online:
9
May
2026
Abstract
We studied the surface morphology (micro- plus nanostructure) of Indian carpenter bee wings. In comparison with the Stenocara beetle’s surface morphology or the lotus leaf surface morphology, the Indian carpenter bee wing shows a different type of surface morphology. It is observed that the two-tire surface morphology of the wings plays a key role in controlling wettability. The equilibrium contact angle (θ) and contact angle hysteresis (Δθ) measurement revealed that the carpenter bees’ wings behave as superhydrophobic and self-cleaning for large water drops. Small drops formed by condensation nucleate in microchannels and ridges, grow through condensation and coalescence, and eventually become larger Wenzel or Wenzel–Cassie–Baxter type drops that lose their superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning property. Growth dynamics of condensed water drops on the wing surface show two distinguishing growth laws < R > ~ tα, α = 0.41 ± 0.03 in the initial state and < R > ~ tα, α = 0.99 ± 0.03 in the self-similar (coalescence-dominated) state with maximum surface coverage ≃ 0.45.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
