One of the few measured defensive performance traits used in a combat context is a dung beetle's ability to physically hold its position in a tunnel against an opposing force. The beetle, called Onthophagus taurus, was found to be able to pull a whopping 1,141 times its own body weight, which is the equivalent of a 70 kilogram (150-pound) person lifting six full double-decker buses. How does this compare to human feats of strength? The mechanical strength of claws of Pachnoda marginata was tested using a load cell force transducer to show how attachment ability varies with surface texture (Dai et al. Summary of pulling force measurements from all Odontotaenius disjunctus used in strength trials (n = 21). There was no difference in mass between males and females from this collection (t = 0.187, p = 0.853). A total of 21 beetles (10 females, 11 males) were tested for pulling strength. Twenty beetles were individually placed in a ‘push-up’ position with a … (2002), the use of maximum strength may be problematic if for whatever reason some individuals do not use their maximal capabilities in laboratory trials. Schulte Please check for further notifications by email. Measurements of body morphology of Odontotaenius disjunctus. AK Odontotaenius disjunctus live in rotting logs on the forest floor, where they excavate galleries (Pearse et al. The research, carried out by a team of scientists, led by Dr. This lesson does not fully address a multitude of behaviors for successful breeding so the teacher should add readings or other activities that compare other behaviors that result in mating in other animals. (2010) Pachynoda sinuata: Rose chafer beetle: Elytra: Tensile strength: 40–110 MPa: Hepburn & Ball (1973) Tenebrio molitor: Darkling beetle: Elytra: Tensile strength: 6–30 MPa: Lomakin et al. An experimental test with the butterfly, Strength-weight relationships in a laboratory population of, Annals of the Entomological Society of America. Using a more low-tech approach, the clinging strength of dung beetles was tested by placing individuals in artificial tubes, attaching them to containers of water on a pulley system, and filling the containers until the weight of the water pulled the beetle out of the tube (Lailvaux et al. After the initial trials, all beetles were placed in individual plastic containers filled with wood pieces and were individually numbered for later identification. Strength was strongly condition dependent only in those beetles that fight for access to females. Beetles only mate inside these underground tunnels, so males fight with other males to become the owner of a tunnel. RJ Measurements were made from photographs using image analysis software. Three typical graphs of pulling force over time are shown in Figure 2. Over a century ago, a pioneering researcher cleverly devised a means to measure how much weight the horned passalus beetle, Odontotaenius disjunctus (Illiger) (Coleoptera: Passalidae), could pull using a series of springs, pulleys, and careful observation. These choices were optimized via circumvention and stacking. The goals of this study were to 1) establish a protocol for measuring strength of O. disjunc-tus, where pulling strength is measured continuously over a standardized time period allowing maximum and average force to be obtained; 2) compare the measures of maximum and mean pulling strength among individuals; 3) determine if variation in pulling strength is associated with gender or morphological traits; and 4) compare various measures of body morphology between males and females. Proceedings of the National Academy of USA, Observations on the life history of the horned passalus. High quality figures are available online. In Japanese, rhinoceros beetles are called kabutomushi (かぶとむし, also written 甲虫 or かぶと虫). Without considering any morphological variables, female beetles appeared to be stronger than males in terms of pulling force (Table 2). Search for other works by this author on: Does flight morphology relate to flight performance? Per-haps the earliest test of beetle strength was conducted over a century ago using the horned passalus beetle, Odontotaenius disjunctus (Il … With a clever use of a watch spring, Hinds (1901) conducted a series of interesting tests to ascertain the pulling strength of this species under various conditions. Females also were wider at the thorax (prono-tum width), and this variable appeared to be predictive of pulling strength (Tables 3, 4). Van Dyck J Body length is the sum of pronotum and elytra lengths. Motion shot of dung beetle rolling a dung ball: Chris Johns. We thank Sonia Altizer for use of equipment and lab space. Male dung beetles also use their colossal strength to fight, locking horns to push and pull rivals out of the way when they’re grappling for a female’s attention. . Lailvaux 23, 2010, 8:01 PM The insect world is famous for its Olympian power-lifters, but the horned dung beetle (Onthophagus Taurus) takes the gold. Thus, it is likely that the greater thorax girth of females led to the higher pulling performance in this sex. Our model species is a horned dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. Only beetles that were used in strength trials were included (n = 21). Beetle body size was the sum of the pronotum and elytra lengths. Pomfret Thus, it would be of interest to know how this commonly-used measure (maximum strength) relates to the sub-maximal capacity of beetles. horned dung beetles (Onthophagus taurus) can pull loads equivalent to 1,141 times their own weight (Knell and Simmons 2010). The male horned dung beetle was able to pull 1,141 times its body weight or the equivalent of a 150lbs human, lifting 80 tones of weight (the equivalent of dragging six, fully-laden double decker buses! (Image: © Alex Wild.) An image-analysis approach was used to measure the beetles following prior investigations in the lab (Davis et al. Farrey With this program, a real-time graph is displayed (using the Passport DataStudio software) showing pulling force (in N) over time (sec). The graphical patterns of the force readings generally resembled that shown in Figure 2; over the course of the trial, the individual graphs typically displayed a number of discrete peaks separated by lengthier periods of low readings. TT In the case of beetles being pulled, or vice versa if beetles do the pulling (Hinds 1901), it is possible that some beetles would release their hold on the substrate before they reach their physical limit or, in the case of pulling tests, perhaps their motivation for pulling a weight is low. The insect world is famous for its Olympian power-lifters, but the horned dung beetle (Onthophagus Taurus) takes the gold.A mere 10 millimeters long, the beetle can pull up to 1,141 times its own body weight--the equivalent of a 150-pound (70 kilogram) person lifting six full double-decker buses. 2005). Andrew K. Davis, Barrett Attarha, Taylor J. Piefke, Measuring the strength of the horned passalus beetle, Odontotaenius disjunctus: Revisiting an old topic with modern technology, Journal of Insect Science, Volume 13, Issue 1, 2013, 107, https://doi.org/10.1673/031.013.10701. However, despite the low frequency of high-force pulls and the large difference in magnitude (Table 2), the measures of maximum and mean force were highly correlated (Table 3, Figure 4), suggesting the 2 measures may be interchangeable as indices of overall strength. Beetle length was not a significant predictor of pulling force, but horn size was associated with maximum force. horned dung beetles (Onthophagus taurus) can pull loads equivalent to 1,141 times their own weight (Knell and Simmons 2010). Attracted by camp lights, preserved in ethanol till now. U - Duration: 10:14. Unfortunately, since the gender of all beetles was not known until after pulling tests were completed, there was no way of a priori selecting equal numbers of both sexes for this subset of 8 individuals. In the model of maximum force, pronotum width was the only significant factor (Table 4). Beetles were thawed and then photographed from above with a digital camera mounted to an adjustable copy stand. Animal weapons are among nature’s most diverse structures. Because no effect of body length on strength was found in O. disjunctus, the results support this conclusion as well. A Molecular Approach for Detecting Stage-Specific Predation on, Identifying and Characterizing a Novel Peritrophic Matrix Protein (, Fumigant Toxicity and Oviposition Deterrent Activity of Volatile Constituents from Asari Radix et Rhizoma against, Emergence of Walnut Husk Maggot Adults in Central Illinois and Potential for Control with, Identification and Characterization of Aldehyde Oxidase 5 in the Pheromone Gland of the Silkworm (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae), Volume 20, Issue 6, November 2020 (In Progress), About the Entomological Society of America, Receive exclusive offers and updates from Oxford Academic, Copyright © 2020 Entomological Society of America. Altizer Knell The indices of pulling strength for analyses were the mean and maximum force (expressed in N). Finally, there are a number of additional questions that would be of interest to address in the future using the approach we used or something similar to measure beetle strength. Altizer However, as pointed out by Losos et al. High quality figures are available online. The technology available in modern times now allows for more rigorous data collection on this topic, which could have a number of uses in scientific investigations. Mushi is Japanese for insect, and kabuto is Japanese for helmet, literally referring to the samurai helmet. They're the strongest animals on Earth. Finally, a more labor-intensive, but very important, question to address would be to determine if pulling strength is related to more conventional measures of ecological fitness, such as reproductive success or longevity. Similarly, the mean of the individual maximum values for trial 2 (0.88 N, 0.27 SD) was significantly higher than the average maximum for trial 1 (0.52 N, 0.29 SD; t = -4.17, p = 0.004). The dissections of the 38 beetles from both collections indicated there were 20 females (52.6%) and 18 males (47.4%). Davis Dai カブトムシをつかまえて観察するよ【こうちゃん】Beetle Observation, Educational video for kids! Interestingly, there was no consistent pattern of reduced force over time in the data. This study examined the lifting capacity of a medium-sized (1–2 g) saprolytic beetle native to the United States (horned passalus beetle, Odontotaenius disjunctus), and strength was measured during passive and stressed states. Collected in june 2011 in a semi-deciduous dense forest (750m altitude). In E. intermedius, horn size appeared to be a better predictor of physical performance than was body size (Lailvaux et al. D ung beetles, it's fair to say, have always punched above their weight. These choices were optimized via circumvention and stacking. 14 Photos That Show the Wonderful Diversity of Wading Birds, Wildlife Photographer of the Year Winners Will Take Your Breath Away, The world’s strongest bug has been revealed —. Comparison of maximum pulling force and mean pulling force among all Odontota enius disjunctus tested (n = 21). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the well-fed horned male beetles showed enhanced strength compared to their rivals. Using a species of dimorphic beetle with males that gain matings either by fighting or by ‘sneaking’, we tested the prediction of strong condition dependence for strength, walking speed and testes mass. In our comparisons of body features between 20 females and 18 males, it was found that the sexes were statistically similar in most parameters, including head, thorax, abdomen, and body length. Size and strength aren't necessarily in a causation relationship. After months of grueling tests, a species of horned dung beetle takes the title for world's strongest insect. Creer A measure of body length was obtained as the sum of the pronotum and elytra lengths (Lailvaux et al. Credits – Dung beetle on a dung ball: Beverly Joubert. . Significant differences between sexes, p < 0.05. To illustrate this pattern further, the readings for each beetle were expressed as percentages of the beetle#8217;s individual maximum value, and the average of these for each beetle was calculated. Herreid In the analysis-of-covariance model of factors influencing mean force (including gender, body length, horn length, and pronotum width), none of the predictors were significant (Table 4). Beetles only mate inside these underground tunnels, so males fight with other males to become the owner of a tunnel. But macho men, take note  -  the horned dung beetle's brute strength does not help it hang on to its partner after mating. JE The individual strength record goes to a male Onthphagus taurus dung beetle, which pulled a load equivalent to 1,141 times its own body weight. The grand mean pulling force was 0.14 N, and the grand mean maximum was 0.78 N. The beetles were allowed to pull for 10 min each. SN A species of horned dung beetle takes the title for world's strongest insect. Two-horned Dung beetle under a Zeiss Luminar 40mm 1:4,5 A small Dung beetle (11mm long) from the plateau mountains of Bena (Togo, West-Africa). The horned dung beetle can pull up to 1,141 times its own body weight, while ants can carry 10-50 times their own body weight Size and strength aren't necessarily in a causation relationship. . Harrison High quality figures are available online. Full JC Using a species of dimorphic beetle with males that gain matings either by fighting or by ‘sneaking’, we tested the prediction of strong condition dependence for strength, walking speed and testes mass. Both force measures were simultaneously compared (with Pearson correlations) to 3 morphological variables, namely body length, pronotum width, and horn length, as well as all pairwise combinations of these. 'There is a mite that is stronger, but it isn't an insect.' The height of the camera was fixed in one place for all images. The scientists then attached a cotton thread to each beetle, allowing the bug to enter a lab-created tunnel and then pulling the thread, causing the beetles to brace their legs. JB Sex identification in the passalus beetle. Values shown are grand means (across all beetles) plus standard deviations in parentheses. 2005; Knell and Simmons 2010). The beetle's Korean name meaning 'Jangsupungdeng-i(장수풍뎅이, "General beetle") is similar in nature but it sounds completely different. Many dung beetles, known as rollers, roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding chambers.Others, known as tunnelers, bury the dung wherever they find it.A third group, the dwellers, neither roll nor burrow: they simply live in manure. J Apparatus for measuring pulling force of Odonto-taenius disjunctus. Perhaps the earliest test of beetle strength was conducted over a century ago using the horned passalus beetle, Odontotaenius disjunctus (Il-liger) (Coleoptera: Passalidae), formerly Passalus cornutus, which is a species that lives in rotting logs in eastern North America (Pearse et al. Water was then allowed to slowly drip into the pot, until each insect reached its maximum pulling capacity. Moreover, this aggression could have caused a degree of stress in the beetles that either dampened their pulling strength or reduced their motivation to pull in the tests. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed. Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces.Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. K Male and female beetles did not differ in this mean (t = 0.892, p = 0.384). Search from Horned Dung Beetle stock photos, pictures and royalty-free images from iStock. Two-horned Dung beetle under a Zeiss Luminar 40mm 1:4,5 A small Dung beetle (11mm long) from the plateau mountains of Bena (Togo, West-Africa). Patterson The grand mean of these values across all beetles was 20% (7.1 SD). After months of grueling tests, a species of horned dung beetle takes the title for world's strongest insect. Don’t be fooled. To compare the 2 pulling strength measures (maximum and mean force), a Pearson correlation test was used. Pronotum width was significantly related to both force parameters. Horn length was related to the mean force but not maximum force. The brawniest bug — and likely, animal — on the planet is Onthophagus taurus, a type of horned dung beetle that's reportedly able to … 2002). found that horn size predicts tunnel holding ability in Euoniticellus intermedius. The measurements of 38 beetles (20 females, 18 males) showed there was no difference in overall body length between sexes, but females had greater girth (thorax width) than males, which could translate into larger muscle mass. Using the dimorphic horned dung beetle Onthophagus taurus as a model system, we tested whether physical performance was important in determining a male's victory in fights, and whether successful fighters were preferred by females as mates. LL The early study by Hinds (1901) did find that females tended to be larger than males, although this was based on a very small sample (4 males, 4 females). To put this into perspective, if a human had the strength of the rhinoceros beetle, it would be able to lift a 65 ton object. Please SUBSCRIBE - http://bit.ly/BWchannelTour Tickets Available Now! 2005; Knell and Simmons 2010). Females of the species will dig a tunnel into a pile of … Schwarz Horned dung beetle: Elytra: Tensile strength: 1200 MPa: Sun et al. Despite the differences in magnitude of mean versus maximum pulling force, the 2 measures were positively correlated (r = 0.86, p = ; Table 3, Figure 4). Dung Beetle. To put this into perspective, if a human had the strength of the rhinoceros beetle, it would be able to lift a 65 ton object. Don’t be fooled. SP From a mechanistic standpoint, greater thorax girth would correspond to larger muscle mass, which would in turn allow increased locomotor performance (e.g., Berwaerts et al. Gleeson Basic body measurements, including horn size, of males versus females were compared. From the side images of the head, the length of the horn from the base to the tip was measured by measuring the length of a line drawn following the curvature of the horn (Figure 3, inset). The insect world is famous for its Olympian power-lifters, but the horned dung beetle (Onthophagus Taurus) takes the gold.A mere 10 millimeters long, the beetle can pull up to 1,141 times its own body weight--the equivalent of a 150-pound (70 kilogram) person lifting six full double-decker buses. This is the case with other beetle species, including mountain pine beetles, Dendroctonus monti-colae (Reid 1958), ambrosia beetles, Trypodendron lineatum (Nijholt 1970), and many dung beetle species (Bornemissza 1970; Klemperer and Boulton 1976; Klemperer 1981). The grand mean pulling force was 0.14 N, and the grand mean maximum was 0.78 N. Despite the fact that beetles tended to pull at 20% of their maximum capacity most of the time, and that maximum force was over 5 times larger than the mean force, the 2 measures were highly correlated, suggesting they may be interchangeable for research purposes. The idea for this study emerged from the 2011 Physiological Ecology class at the University of Georgia. A composite measure of body size was calculated with the following equation: (pronotum length + elytra length)*(pronotum width). AK This uneven distribution precluded statistical comparisons of pulling force between sexes during the second trial. Wharton Rhinoceros beetles (subfamily Dynastinae) are capable of lifting 850 times their own weight, Dor beetles (family Geotru-pidae) can move loads weighing 400 times their body mass (Klausnitzer 1981), and horned dung beetles ( Onthophagus taurus) can pull loads equivalent to 1,141 times their own weight (Knell and Simmons 2010). But super-strength isn’t everything, even in terms of survival. A Females had twice the pulling strength (both maximum and mean force) as males in this species overall, but when the larger thorax size of females was considered, the effect of gender was not significant. Wow! A total of 21 beetles (10 females, 11 males) were tested for pulling strength. The beetles#8217; strength was tested in a wooden tunnel because Hinds (1901) discovered they would pull 8 times stronger in an environment that mimicked their natural conditions than if they were uncovered. The males use their horns to beat rivals, driving them out of tunnels and away from females. Here, using the horned dung beetle Euoniticellus intermedius as a model organism we investigate the question of how resource availability during the larval and adult stages of an animal’s life determines the expression of a number of important traits, including signal size, body size, weight, strength and testes mass. For example, tests of the clinging strength of Hemisphaerota cyanea using an electronic force meter revealed these beetles could withstand pulling forces up to 80 times their own weight (Eisner and Aneshansley 2000). . Many dung beetles, known as rollers, roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding chambers.Others, known as tunnelers, bury the dung wherever they find it.A third group, the dwellers, neither roll nor burrow: they simply live in manure. Berwaerts DA Then, whether factors such as body length, thorax size, horn size, or gender affect either measure of strength was investigated. 23, 2010, 8:01 PM The insect world is famous for its Olympian power-lifters, but the horned dung beetle (Onthophagus Taurus) takes the gold. These morphological variables were chosen based partly on the results of the initial morphological comparisons between sexes and partly from the results of other studies (Lailvaux et al. Aerts S By Lauren Schenkman Mar. After the first test, they were housed singly (to keep track of individuals) for 2 weeks prior to the second test. Using the dimorphic horned dung beetle Onthophagus taurus as a model system, we tested whether physical performance was important in determining a male’s victory in fights, and whether successful fighters were preferred by females as mates. JF Our model species is a horned dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus. In other words, the beetles exerted 20% of their maximum pulling force capacity most of the time. Conducting the pulling trials over time also allowed the monitoring of evidence of fatigue, which has been seen in other studies of insect locomotion (e.g., Herreid et al. All morphological variables for both beetle collections were normally distributed. Using the dimorphic horned dung beetle Onthophagus taurus as a model system, we tested whether physical performance was important in determining a male's victory in fights, and whether successful fighters were preferred by females as mates. All beetles used in this study were collected by hand from hardwood logs in forested areas within Clarke County, Georgia (USA). Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. 2012). The best predictor of both measures of strength appeared to be thorax size. Posted 13 December 2020; By ; Under 新闻动态新闻动态 It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide, This PDF is available to Subscribers Only. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, providedthe original work is properly cited. 9/26/2020. The dynamometer was secured on a wooden plank next to a series of wood pieces that formed a tunnel (2.5 cm wide, 3 cm tall) for the beetles to walk through while harnessed to the dynamometer. horned dung beetles can pull 1141 times their body weight this fact is repeated over and over, but nobody actually says how much a dung beetle weighs how much does the average horned dung beetle … Intuitively, species have different types of weapons because they fight in different ways, yet no studies have directly tested whether weapons perform better at the animals’ own style of fighting than they do at others. Your comment will be reviewed and published at the journal's discretion. Summary of all morphological measurements of Odontotaenius disjunctus (n = 38 beetles, 20 females, 18 males). Home > 新闻动态 > when are dung beetles active uk. For example, it was determined that most of the time the beetles pulled at 20% of their maximum capacity, and that in the span of 10 min they typically had 3 (brief) bouts of high force. Furthermore, basic measurements of 4 males and 4 females in that study indicated that females tended to be larger than males. Maerz To put this into perspective, if a human had the strength of the rhinoceros beetle, it would be able to lift a 65 ton object. An unanticipated finding in this investigation was the increase in pulling strength from the first test to the second in the 8 beetles that were run twice. From the beetle images, the freely-available program ImageJ (http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/index.html) was used to measure the length of the head, pronotum, and elytra from the dorsal images, as well as the pronotum width at the widest point (Figure 3). If at any time the beetle stopped pulling for longer than 10 sec, it was gently prodded with a blunt probe; most beetles responded to this and continued to pull. As such, 2 beetles turned out to be females and 6 were males. Grosse The greater thorax size and strength of females might indicate that this sex performs the majority of the excavating, which likely requires considerable strength (i.e., tearing and pulling pieces of wood to form galleries, and/or squeezing through tight openings). In prior experiments of confined populations of this species, crowding was thought to induce stress, which then resulted in increased mortality (Mullen and Hunter 1973). The beetles varied gre atly in overall pulling strength, as measured by both mean and maximum force. . Chi In other words, does maximum pulling strength covary with average pulling strength? Comparisons of morphological measurements between males and females revealed only 1 significant difference, namely that females had significantly greater pronotum widths than males (Table 1; t = 2.40, p = 0.021). The world’s strongest bug has been revealed — Onthophagus taurus, a species of horned dung beetle that can pull 1,141 times its own body weight, the … Scientists studying evolutionary biology tested how well individual male horned beetles would do against each other in pre-mating fights by measuring the amount of force needed to pull them from the underground tunnels in which females lay their eggs. Relative to their size, beetles are generally regarded as the strongest creatures in the animal kingdom. Mushi is Japanese for insect, and kabuto is Japanese for helmet, literally referring to the samurai helmet. All beetles that had been used for strength tests, as well as the second collection of 17 beetles, were measured. Perhaps the earliest test of beetle strength was conducted over a century ago using th… In addition, given that O. disjunctus appears to harbor large numbers of ectoparasites (mites) and endoparasites (nematodes) (Pearse et al. There are a multitude of interesting scientific questions that could be addressed using data on beetle pulling strength, and this project serves as a starting point for such work. S The mean force varied from 0.02 to 0.48 N (grand mean = 0.14 N, 0.12 SD) while the maximum force varied from 0.19 to 1.95 N (grand mean = 0.78 N, 0.54 SD). The males use their horns to beat rivals, driving them out of tunnels and away from females. A data-logger recorded the pulling force over a 10 min period, which was graphed in real-time on the computer (see Figure 2). Values in parentheses indicate standard deviations of the mean. Pairwise comparisons of 3 body measurements (horn, body length, and pronotum width) with both strength measures are shown in Table 3. Beetles in the first collection were transported to the lab at the University of Georgia, where they were initially housed in groups of 7#8211;8 in 8-L plastic containers filled with wood pieces from the source logs. Other questions could involve comparisons of strength across populations or age groups. Long-horned ‘major’ males of this species guard females within tunnels beneath dung pats, fighting with intruding rivals and mating repeatedly with the females they guard. Long-horned ‘major’ males of this species guard females within tunnels beneath dung pats, fighting with intruding rivals and mating repeatedly with the females they guard. (2011) Tribolium castaneum: Red rust flour beetle: Elytra: Tensile strength : 4–10 MPa: Lomakin et al. Software ( Statistica 2003 ) males and 4 females in that study indicated females! Sonia Altizer for use of equipment and lab space in Euoniticellus intermedius would be to... 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Existing account, or purchase an annual subscription interesting to relate infection with... Is likely that the beetle started pulling ), a species of horned dung beetle takes the title world... Of this species, they would be interesting to relate infection levels with strength... To approximate normal distributions is stronger, but it sounds completely different the only significant factor Table! The biological reason for these patterns may relate to flight performance of a tunnel to beat rivals, driving out! Weighed to the mean Tim Laman is … horned dung beetle strength Lauren Schenkman Mar: Sun et al investigations in the kingdom... The Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided the... Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the beetle has become so strong to other... Within Clarke County, Georgia ( USA ) beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one.... 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