Related topics: teeth ยท fossil

How invading fungus forces zombie ant's death grip

If it's thoughts of zombies that keep you awake at night, you shouldn't be worried about zombie humans; it's the carpenter ants (Camponotus castaneus) that should concern you most. When infected by a specialised fungus (Ophiocordyceps ...

Strange new species of duck-billed dinosaur identified

The most complete skull of a duck-billed dinosaur from Big Bend National Park, Texas, is revealed in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology as a new genus and species, Aquilarhinus palimentus. This dinosaur has been named ...

Australian blue tongue lizard ancestor was round-in-the-tooth

Reconstruction of the most complete fossil lizard found in Australia, a 15 million year old relative of our modern blue tongues and social skinks named Egernia gillespieae, reveals the creature was equipped with a robust ...

Dracula ants possess fastest known animal appendage: The snap-jaw

Move over, trap-jaw ants and mantis shrimp: There's a faster appendage in town. According to a new study, the Dracula ant, Mystrium camillae, can snap its mandibles at speeds of up to 90 meters per second (more than 200 mph), ...

Biomechanics of chewing depend more on animal size, not diet

Chewing: We don't think about it, we just do it. But biologists don't know a lot about how chewing behavior leaves telltale signs on the underlying bones. To find out, researchers at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical ...

Getting to the roots of our ancient cousin's diet

Food needs to be broken down in the mouth before it can be swallowed and digested further. How this is being done depends on many factors, such as the mechanical properties of the foods and the morphology of the masticatory ...

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