Trap-jaw ants can use their
powerful mouths to catapult to
safety, when being sucked under
sand by predator antlions
When an a
ntlion predator stalks its
insect prey, the prospects of survival
can be grim. They dig cone-shaped pits
in the sand so that small arthropods,
such as ants, fall in.
The antlions will then grab these
unsuspecting victims and drag them
further underground.
But the trap-jaw ant has a cunning
technique at its disposal. It will often
catapult itself away from predators
using its mouth, according to a new
study published in journal Plos One .
The incredible mandible of a trap-jaw
ant has been known about for over a
century. It can spring shut at speeds of
about 40-60 metres per second (over
100 miles per hour at its fastest). It's
thought to be one of the fastest
movements in the animal kingdom.
When they strike a hard surface such as the ground with their speedy jaws, the impact hurls their bodies into the air.
This incredible behaviour was caught in the high-speed video above. It shows a trap-jaw ant snapping its jaws after being caught by an antlion. After striking the sand, the ant jumps completely out of the pit.
While they usually use their jaws to
catch predators or tend to their larvae.
It's now clear they have adapted this
skill to use it for escaping predators
such as an antlion.
You can see why this is necessary, the video below shows an antlion dragging an ant further into the sand after it has stumbled into a make-shift pit.
"It was never clear whether this was an intentional behaviour or an accidental by-product of using so much energy with their jaws and striking a hard surface," says lead author of the study Fredrick Larabee of the University of Illinois, US.
By luring trap-jaw ants into a cone
shaped sandy pit, Larabee and
colleagues were able to witness their
incredible mouths in action.
Half of the time, the ant would simply run away, but 15% of the time they used their mouths to spring away.
To see just how much this skill helped them escape, they glued the ants' mouths shut with glue and found that it cut their survival rate in half.
"It puts a nice little bow on the story
[of these ants]. Behaviour that's
evolved for one purpose can be co-
opted for other purposes over
evolutionary time, in this case for a
defensive mechanism to escape from predators," Larabee told BBC Earth.
powerful mouths to catapult to
safety, when being sucked under
sand by predator antlions
When an a
ntlion predator stalks its
insect prey, the prospects of survival
can be grim. They dig cone-shaped pits
in the sand so that small arthropods,
such as ants, fall in.
The antlions will then grab these
unsuspecting victims and drag them
further underground.
But the trap-jaw ant has a cunning
technique at its disposal. It will often
catapult itself away from predators
using its mouth, according to a new
study published in journal Plos One .
The incredible mandible of a trap-jaw
ant has been known about for over a
century. It can spring shut at speeds of
about 40-60 metres per second (over
100 miles per hour at its fastest). It's
thought to be one of the fastest
movements in the animal kingdom.
When they strike a hard surface such as the ground with their speedy jaws, the impact hurls their bodies into the air.
This incredible behaviour was caught in the high-speed video above. It shows a trap-jaw ant snapping its jaws after being caught by an antlion. After striking the sand, the ant jumps completely out of the pit.
While they usually use their jaws to
catch predators or tend to their larvae.
It's now clear they have adapted this
skill to use it for escaping predators
such as an antlion.
You can see why this is necessary, the video below shows an antlion dragging an ant further into the sand after it has stumbled into a make-shift pit.
"It was never clear whether this was an intentional behaviour or an accidental by-product of using so much energy with their jaws and striking a hard surface," says lead author of the study Fredrick Larabee of the University of Illinois, US.
By luring trap-jaw ants into a cone
shaped sandy pit, Larabee and
colleagues were able to witness their
incredible mouths in action.
Half of the time, the ant would simply run away, but 15% of the time they used their mouths to spring away.
To see just how much this skill helped them escape, they glued the ants' mouths shut with glue and found that it cut their survival rate in half.
"It puts a nice little bow on the story
[of these ants]. Behaviour that's
evolved for one purpose can be co-
opted for other purposes over
evolutionary time, in this case for a
defensive mechanism to escape from predators," Larabee told BBC Earth.
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