March 2 (UPI) --How did the trap-jaw ant evolve such a complex mechanism for snatching its prey? Today, the mandibles of trap-jaw ants take many forms, suggesting a tremendous level of anatomical ...

The speedy mandibles of Strumigenys ants developed repeatedly throughout the world, explaining how evolution creates new abilities to help a species survive. Ants gather on a dewy peony bud. (Image ...

Most ants dextrously grasp and snip their food with a pair of chopstick-like mandibles. But trap-jaw ants are also capable of crashing their jaws together at blisteringly fast speeds, striking victims ...

Trap-jaw ants can slam their jaws together with extraordinary speed, with the tips of their mandibles racing at up to roughly 120 miles per hour. How they could perform such attacks, repeatedly, ...

video: The animation shows the changes in form as the trap-jaw mechanism becomes more divergent from the ancestral form. The jaws (yellow) develop small projections that can latch onto the labrum ...