soulxtc
August 21st, 2006, 09:16 PM
Trap-jaw ants bite with a force of over 300 times their own bodyweight, new high-speed digital images have shown.
Their jaws spring shut at more than 100 km/h (66mph)- the fastest recorded speed at which an animal can move its body parts.
The pictures also reveal these tiny creatures, native to Central and South America, do more with their vicious jaws than simply giving a nasty nip.
By biting the ground, the ants hurl themselves upwards when danger looms.
A frosty reception
Uninvited visitors to a nest of trap-jaw ants can expect a vicious response.
The ants are named after their characteristically long jaws, which they use to hurl unfamiliar neighbours from their nests, cripple prey, or deliver a brutal bite to anything they consider a threat.
Employing the same high-speed imaging methods as those used to film flying bullets, an American research team now show that the jaws can move at exceptional speeds.
"This is really by far and away the fastest recorded animal limb movement" said lead researcher Sheila Patek, of the University of California, Berkeley, who worked with ants from Costa Rica.
"The ants' jaws are relatively short, but they deliver such a powerful bite because they can accelerate so quickly. It's simple physics."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5272094.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41999000/jpg/_41999048_ant_pnas_203.jpg
Their jaws spring shut at more than 100 km/h (66mph)- the fastest recorded speed at which an animal can move its body parts.
The pictures also reveal these tiny creatures, native to Central and South America, do more with their vicious jaws than simply giving a nasty nip.
By biting the ground, the ants hurl themselves upwards when danger looms.
A frosty reception
Uninvited visitors to a nest of trap-jaw ants can expect a vicious response.
The ants are named after their characteristically long jaws, which they use to hurl unfamiliar neighbours from their nests, cripple prey, or deliver a brutal bite to anything they consider a threat.
Employing the same high-speed imaging methods as those used to film flying bullets, an American research team now show that the jaws can move at exceptional speeds.
"This is really by far and away the fastest recorded animal limb movement" said lead researcher Sheila Patek, of the University of California, Berkeley, who worked with ants from Costa Rica.
"The ants' jaws are relatively short, but they deliver such a powerful bite because they can accelerate so quickly. It's simple physics."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5272094.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41999000/jpg/_41999048_ant_pnas_203.jpg