On first glance, Mecysmaucheniidae spiders, which live exclusively in New Zealand and southern regions of South America, do not look like much to the naked eye. Because they are minute spiders that hunt for prey on the ground, ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 7, 2016
0
109
Researchers at the RIKEN Evolutionary Morphology laboratory and other institutions in Japan have shown that complex divisions in the vertebrate brain first appeared before the evolution of jaws, more than 500 million years ...
Archaeology
Feb 15, 2016
0
32
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
0
247
A species of trap-jaw ant has been found to exhibit a previously unseen jumping behavior, using its legs rather than its powerful jaws. The discovery makes this species, Odontomachus rixosus, the only species of ant that ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 1, 2015
0
799
Just how bad was T. rex's bite? New research from the University of Bristol has found that the feeding style and dietary preferences of dinosaurs was closely linked to how wide they could open their jaws.
Archaeology
Nov 4, 2015
0
420
When it comes to catching elusive prey, many fishes rely on a special trick: protruding jaws that quickly extend their reach to snap up that next meal. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 8, 2015
0
140
The identification of a new species belonging to the marine mammal group Desmostylia has intensified the rare animal's brief mysterious journey through prehistoric time, finds a new study.
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 6, 2015
0
87
Growing up, Stephanie Leco often would dig in her backyard and imagine finding fossils of a tyrannosaurus rex. She was fascinated with the idea of holding something in her hand that was millions of years old and would give ...
Archaeology
Sep 3, 2015
2
198
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
0
33
Researchers at the RIKEN Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory and the University of Tokyo in Japan have determined that the eardrum evolved independently in mammals and diapsids—the taxonomic group that includes reptiles ...
Evolution
Apr 22, 2015
0
34
