Most ants dexterously grasp and snip their food with a pair of chopstick-like mandibles. But trap-jaw ants are also capable of crashing their jaws together at blisteringly fast speeds, striking victims in 0.77 μs. Yet, unleashing ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 22, 2022
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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), ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 11, 2018
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Researchers provide the first mechanical description of the jaws of a group of trap-jaw ants that can snap their spring-loaded jaws shut at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour - just fast enough to capture their elusive prey.
Plants & Animals
Aug 30, 2017
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Trap-jaw ants, with their spring-loaded jaws and powerful stings, are among the fiercest insect predators, but they begin their lives as spiny, hairy, fleshy blobs hanging from the ceiling and walls of an underground nest. ...
Plants & Animals
May 9, 2017
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Boxer Muhammad Ali famously declared his intent to "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," but perhaps boxers should look to another type of insect for inspiration: the trap-jaw ant.
Plants & Animals
Feb 10, 2016
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Some species of trap-jaw ants use their spring-loaded mandibles to hurl themselves out of harm's way when an ant-trapping predator stalks, researchers report in the journal PLOS ONE. This dramatic maneuver doubles the ants' ...
Plants & Animals
May 13, 2015
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Researchers report that trap-jaw ants recognize the unique odor of a fertile queen only if the queen also shares the workers' own chemical cologne - a distinctive blend of dozens of smelly, waxy compounds that coat the ants' ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 2, 2015
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Trap-jaw ant species are active hunters with venomous stings and jaws powerful enough to fling themselves through the air. According to new research, they are also spreading into new territory in the southeastern United States. ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 18, 2014
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