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Trap-Jaw Ants Break Speed Records With Jaws
Ant writes to tell us UC Berkeley News is reporting that a species of Ant native to Central and South America is setting speed records with their jaws. The trap-jaw ant has been clocked closing its mandibles at between 78 and 145 miles per hour, said to be the "fastest self-powered predatory strike in the animal kingdom". In addition to blinding speed the ants have also been taped using their jaws to fling themselves into the air.
The average duration of a strike was a mere 0.13 milliseconds, or 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye.The average duration of a strike was a mere 0.13 milliseconds, or 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye.
Notice that at no time do my jaws leave my head...
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
My 0.02 cents
Anybody check to see if there were banned substances in the ant?
What i learned from the article.
1) Black ants can jump.
The researchers used a high-speed video camera filming at 50,000 frames per second to visualize the mandible movements.
2) If i want a high-speed camera, become a researcher.
The jumps were detailed at a relatively slower 3,000 frames per second.
3) Jumping is slower than eating.
The average duration of a strike was a mere 0.13 milliseconds, or 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye.
4) Blinking is slower than eating.
Yet, the researchers note that even when an ant lands on its back or head, the insect is so light that it can still walk away no worse for wear.
5) These ants are light headed.
Have you read my journal today?
So this is like rocket-jumping in Quake, right?
"welcome our insectoid jaw-flapping overlords"
Don't tell me: Another Ann Coulter appearance on Hannity and Colmes last night?
Where were you when the voynix came?
Yes, but white ants have sound fundamentals, and they are deceptively fast. It has been reported that with advancements in genetic engineering, Chinese ants will soon be just as good.
Anyone else uncomfortable with the phrases "pound for pound" and "largest member" being used in the same sentence?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
It does. Certain species of the mantis shrimp are able to strike at a speed of up to 23m/s, whereas the range listed here is 35m/s to 65m/s.
The mantis shrimp is able to manage an acceleration of 10,500g and achieve a force of 1500N at impact. I wonder what the acceleration and force are for this ant. Any physics experts want to chime in?
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Let's hope they can retract their tongue at record breaking speeds.
Karma: Excer..ex...excellahhh...realll good (mostly affected by drinking not done in moderation)
Check out the BBC DVD series "Life in the Undergrowth", with the incomparable David Attenborough. The biggest problem with the series is that, at 5 episodes, it's far too short.
Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
"The trap-jaw ant has been clocked closing its mandibles at between 78 and 145 miles per hour"
Shouldn't that be in bites per second?
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Still here
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First entomology, then virology, and finally bioinformatics systems. Bugs follow me wherever I go.
I guess a jellyfish stings doesn't count as a self-powered predatory strike then. Why?
h e-sting-of-the-jellyfish-natures-fastest-cellular- mechanism/
http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/05/09/t
"The last thing I want to do is deal with a bunch of people who want something."
Major Major
After watching those videos, I have retracted my previously firm belief that ninjas are mammals. Arthropods can obviously be ninjas as well.
In that first video that ant disappears from the site of the ant that is watching him, trims his toenails and files his tax return in mid air before landing directly behind his unsuspecting neighbor all in less than a second. Amazing.
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They're still here. I live in South Florida and they have spread over the years throughout the entire state. Occaisionally, you will hear about livestock or sometimes even a person in a nursing home or otherwise debilitated being bitten to death by them. Some people have also developed severe allergies to them and a single bite can be fatal for these people if they don't have epiniphrine nearby. Those who can tolerate bites wind up with welts that become pustules and last for days.
The fire ants are very hard to eradicate as once you get rid of them from your yard, they just eventually creep back over from a neighbor's yard. Flooding rains don't help as the ants can simply just raft themselves over the water until it recedes. This is also another way that they spread.
The bait type treatments (Amdro TM, etc.) are somewhat effective, but they're expensive and they don't permanently rid you of these pests. We used to just burn the mounds with gasoline when we were kids, but it's not effective at getting the whole mound and it's ecologically irresponsible as the gas that doesn't burn winds up in the aquafer(sp?).
I did recently see a program where fire ant mounds were being treated in rural areas with a mite that specializes in laying its eggs in the fire ants' skulls. The mite larvae hatch out and then spread to the rest of the mound to lather, rinse, repeat. It looks like this may be an effective natural way of keeping fire ants in check, if they can't be completely eliminated. I think someone at the University of Florida came up with this and if it works, they should be in line for some kind of prize for the research.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
What's this? A Slashdotter that knows girls? Sir, I accuse you of lying.
Programmer: an ingenious device that converts caffeine into code.
Cnidarians (i.e. Jellyfish & Sea Anemones) have stinging cells which are much faster. These cells, called nematocysts, are the fastest things in the animal kingdom. The stingers launch out at speeds well in excess of 300 miles per hour.
Trap jaw ants do live in the wild in the southern U.S -- I've studied them in Austin Texas. They're not easy to find as the colonies are very small and the individuals tend to be quite reclusive. They are largish ants (about about 1 cm in length), dark in color, and tend to be fairly slow moving when foraging in leaf litter and under rocks. They walk around with their jaws cocked open and one or two pairs of trigger hairs in the mouth fire the jaw. As the article states a snap of the jaw impales the prey and then the ant stings it. If they fire the jaw on a solid object, the ant goes flying. Either way the jaw emits a loud 'snap' when triggered. Despite the sharp hair-trigger jaw and sting, these ants tend to fall into the "fierce in their nest, but timid in the wild" range of ant behavior.
As amazing as the trap jaw design is, these ants are not unique. The trap jaw concept evolved at least twice in ants. Two collections of ant species on widely separated arms of the ant family tree use a trap jaw mechanism for capturing prey. They share the same jaw design, but have very different head shapes. Ants of genus Odontomachus (the ones in the video) have an odd-shaped lumpy cylindrical head. Those on the other side of the ant family tree (genus Daceton and Strumigenys) have a distinct heart-shaped head. Species of both types occur in the U.S. The Strumigenys that I've seen in the U.S. are very small (about 2 mm) and thrive on similarly tiny creatures found in rotting logs, leaf litter, etc.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
...these scientists have never seen my g/f's response when she sees my paycheck in my hand.
"fastest self-powered predatory strike in the animal kingdom" my ass.
-Styopa
According to TFA, they calculated the speed by using a high speed camera, and calculated that the ant closed its jaws on the bait in 130 microseconds. The record for opening a jaw though, at 110 microseconds after seeing the "bait," is still held by Paris Hilton.
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