A new ultrafast movement enables escape at low temperature

Escape is a life critical defensive behaviour. One potential escape strategy is using ultrafast movements to relocate quickly. These movements do not rely solely on muscle activation and are beneficial for ectotherms at low temperatures when muscle performance is constrained. However, the functional significance of ultrafast motions is often assumed. Here, we show with high-speed videos that Astraeus jewel beetles (Buprestidae) rapidly open their elytra to flick themselves into the air and the movement is of comparable speed to other known ultrafast movements. Our calculations indicate that it is likely a power-amplified mechanism. Behavioural trials and thermal imaging demonstrate that Astraeus beetles can flick at > 15°C lower body temperatures than walking or flying, suggesting that the behaviour could provide a significant survival advantage at low ambient temperatures. Taken together, we reveal a novel ultrafast movement and show its potential functional value in escape., , , # Data from: A new ultrafast movement enables escape at low temperature

This dataset is for reproducing the results in the paper titled “A new ultrafast movement enables escape at low temperature\"

The dataset belongs to Lu-Yi Wang1*, Devi Stuart-Fox1, Ko-Huan Lee2,3, Jay Black4, Amanda M. Franklin1

1 School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
2 School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
3Health and Biosecurity, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, ACT, Australia
4School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

## \*Corresponding author: Lu-Yi Wang ([[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]), [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]))

This dataset includes 5 different components as listed below

1. tracking data (folder, in .zip format)
2. flick heights.csv
3. fast movement comparison.csv
4....