Trap Jaw Ant

Watch how this mandible ant (Odontomachus bauri) hurls itself into the air with its lower jaws. Biologists have measured the speed at which this ant’s jaw, OdONTOMACHUS bauris, closes its lower jaw, an action they say is a self-propelled predatory strike. The average strike duration is about one to three seconds, or about 1.5 seconds, according to the study. Sources: 0

Using advances in high-speed videography, the research team, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Veterinary Medicine, calculated the average speed of the mandible ant. Ants have powerful mandibles that snap at extremely high acceleration speeds. The lower jaw is used to prey and ward off other ants, according to the study. Sources: 0, 1

This remarkable mandible has attracted the attention of biologists and naturalists for well over a century. Here we present the first evidence that mandible ants escape predators with the help of mandibles driven by jumps. Trap jaw ant has specialized spring-loaded mandible that snaps and shuts at the fastest speed ever recorded for an animal’s movement. Sources: 1, 9

Members of the genus Odontomachus, for example, are able to snap off their mandibles at a speed of up to 60 m / s and generate a force of up to 300 times their body weight. The spring-loaded jaw is able to snap and can generate forces of over 300 times the body weight and is responsible for the rapid movement of its lower jaw. Sources: 5, 9

The mandible ant can jump from its lower jaws and hurl itself backwards in the direction of its partner, but it also has another trick to behave: it can perform this trick in the presence of its partners. The ant is able to snatch the deadly jaw with a speed of up to 60 m / s and a force of more than 300 times its body weight. Sources: 1, 5

Studies have shown that the peak force can exceed the ant’s body weight and cause severe damage to its prey. Sources: 1

When an ant hits a substrate with its powerful lower jaws, it can jump up and down, often travelling up to 20 times as long as its body. As it closes its jaw, the ant pushes the ground to the top of the substrate as far as the eye can see. How ants use the same energy to move is a key factor in how quickly they grasp food and even enemies. Sources: 1, 6

Grabbing the jaw can take the ant from the ground to the top of a substrate in less than a second or even a few seconds. Sources: 6

Patek acknowledges that falcons can dive as far as 13 meters, but that birds of prey need to start at very high altitudes and get a boost from gravity to reach that speed. Who is the most popular bird of prey that jumps 13 metres, who is not afraid to jump 14 metres? Sources: 0, 6

In comparison, the trapping pine ant and the praying mantis, which used to hold the record for the fastest strike in the animal world, use the energy stored in their jaws. For example, a pair of huge, contracted muscles on the head hold the lower jaws of a mandible ant that crunches them together. When their latches are triggered on a shield – such as the plate called Clypeus – these muscles bounce open. Sources: 0

When released for a fraction of a second, the elastic energy tears open the jaw, and the Myrmoteras ant is held in its locked position for an encounter with prey. They feed mainly on tiny arthropods, which they hurl away when they spot a threat. Sources: 2

The researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology described the unusual mechanics with which the jaw of the Myrmoteras ant can snap within one millisecond. Sources: 8

The remarkable ant, known as the drop jaw ant (pictured right), has a pair of jaws (lower jaw) that can open and snap at 180o to attack prey. As a defence mechanism, the ant is hurled into the air by snapping the jaws on the ground from its prey, where it lands on its feet. Sources: 3

The spring-loaded jaw of the mandible ant (left) and the mandible (right) are the fastest moving parts of the ant’s body. Sources: 7

The mandible ant has the fastest bite in the animal kingdom, but its explosive lower jaw also serves a less violent purpose. The insect uses it to protect its nest, spread its lower jaws apart and then crack at speeds of up to 230 kilometres per hour, hurling invading species into the air. Now researchers report that the ant uses its jaw to hurl itself into the air to escape predators, giving it a much better chance of survival. Sources: 4, 7

The insect regularly uses its feather – a loaded jaw – to snap and make an escape when faced with a predator. It is 2-300 times faster than the blink of an eye, and the ant’s jaw can snap open and close in the air at speeds of up to 230 km / h (100 km / h). Sources: 4

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