Trap-Jaw Ants

Posted on July 14, 2014 by jjneal

Trap-Jaw Ant

Trap-Jaw Ant
Photo: Gerardine Vargas

Trap-jaw ants of the Genus, Odontomachus, have sharp mandibles 2-3 mm long that they hold parallel to their body. The mandibles have a mechanism that allows them to close at speeds over 140 mph (64 meters/second). The average closing speed is over 85 mph. Starting from a dead stop, the “jaws” can snap shut in a little more than 1/10 of a second. The mandibles begin to slow before they meet at the midline. A prey wider than 1 mm, centered on the ant’s head would experience maximum force. Mandibles weighing only 130 micrograms can accelerate to over 100,000 times g and generate a force over 500 times the body weight of the ant.

About jjneal

Jonathan Neal is a retired Associate Professor of Entomology at Purdue University and author of the textbook, Living With Insects (2010). This blog is a forum to communicate about the intersection of insects with people and policy. This is a personal blog. The opinions and materials posted here are those of the author and are in no way connected with those of my employer.
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4 Responses to Trap-Jaw Ants

  1. anastaciast says:
    July 14, 2014 at 7:55 pm

    Maybe this should be submitted to the Mythbusters! 🙂 You know how they like to prove things that are already known. 🙂

    Reply

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