How a trap-jaw ant carries a baby
Outsized mouthparts aren’t just weapons
By Susan Milius
Surprisingly gently. That’s how Odontomachus ants use their trap jaws to move soft, wriggly larvae around the nest. When ants hunt, though, those same jaws can smack shut at speeds exceeding 200 kilometers an hour.
“The poor prey are smashed. Sometimes they stick to the teeth; sometimes they bounce away,” says Fredrick Larabee of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The difference between butcher and nursemaid is in the ant’s preparation. Before a killing strike, jaw muscles clench hard. Their pull distorts parts of the head that will pop back into shape, powering the jaw to slam the instant a trigger muscle frees a latch. For slower, gentler tasks, the ants use jaw muscles with the latch unlocked.