First Ever Insect To Physically Possess A System Of Gears

An interesting garden insect moves with the help of a set of mechanical gears. That sentence may sound strange, but researchers believe that they have found the first ever insect to a physical constitution that operates in a fashion similar to mechanical gears.

We are all aware of the mechanical gears that make engines operate, well, as it turns out, the insect known as the issus leafhopper also uses mechanical gears in order to jump through the air. This leafhopper has numerous sets of teeth that resemble cogs. The teeth in these cogs intermesh when the leafhopper is using its legs.

The system of gears is very similar in design to man made machines. For example, each tooth that is located on each cog has a rounded corner at the point where each tooth makes contact with the gear strip. This particular feature was thought to have been a completely man made construct, and not a part of the natural world. Maybe humans are not as clever and inventive as we think.

Are there any other examples of particular animals that demonstrate a similar gear system as a part of its anatomy? And if so, do those features function in service of the organism? Or have the gear-like features become obsolete to the organism?